A married couple found themselves at the centre of a murder enquiry after a stranger suddenly died on their sofa.

Warren Bird, 41, his husband Johan Oller, 29, and a third man were arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of 26-year-old Londoner Nicholas Widgery.

After nearly six months on police bail, however, they were all told they would not face any criminal charges over Mr Widgery’s death after the cause was finally established.

Brighton Coroner’s Court heard that he suffocated after consuming alcohol and drugs and slept lying face-down on the pair’s sofa in Upper Rock Gardens.

Giving evidence at his inquest, Mr Bird told how he and his husband met Mr Widgery at Legends, a gay nightclub on the Brighton seafront, on the evening of July 3.

He said: “We were talking and then he asked if he could come back to our flat.

“I assume he wanted somewhere to stay for the night. I don’t recall the exact conversation.

“My impression was that he had nowhere to stay.”

Mr Bird said Mr Widgery appeared in the nightclub as if he had taken some sort of drug – possibly ecstasy - but did not take anything in front of him.

He assumed Mr Widgery was later “sleeping off” whatever he might have taken or drunk and did not realise anything was wrong until they tried to move him off the sofa at about 4am.

Mr Bird said: “We were trying to move him and then the sofa table was quite close to the sofa and I think his arm might have hit the [the table].”

They also accidentally hit his head against a table while trying to move him, drawing blood.

The couple and another man who arrived at the flat phoned paramedics and started CPR, but Mr Widgery was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post mortem found he had vomited slightly while unconscious on the sofa and gave his cause of death as postural asphyxisia with underlying consumption of alcohol and drugs.

Evidence of MDMA, alcohol and prescription drugs was found in his body. No-one faces any criminal charges over the death.

Mr Widgery, who lived in east London with his mother and brother, was unemployed and had serious mental health problems. He was visiting Brighton.

Brighton Senior Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Heeley recorded a verdict of misadventure.