An anaesthetist's assistant who tried using knock-out drugs to clean his camera was killed by the fumes, an inquest heard.

Film-making fanatic Paul Attree, 35, was found lying face down in a room at Worthing Hospital with photographic equipment scattered around him.

Traces of the anaesthetic Sevoflurane were later found in his blood.

An inquest yesterday heard how married father Mr Attree had more than ten years' experience working with the volatile chemical during surgery and may have grown accustomed to its smell.

Colleagues at Worthing Hospital became suspicious when Mr Attree did not answer a page during a shift on March 1.

Junior sister Veronica Lewry, from Arundel, discovered his body in a locked staff rest room.

She said: "He was laying face down on a bed with his legs covered at the back and his arms crossed under his chest.

"I turned him on his back and immediately knew he was dead. I ran to get some oxygen."

Pathologist Dr Nigel Kirkham said Mr Attree had an alcohol level just over the drink-drive limit and 21mg per litre of the anaesthetic in his blood.

The only other recorded death due to the drug, which is normally monitored as it is administered, involved a blood level of 4.8mg per litre in the victim's blood.

Dr Kirkham said: "Mr Attree died because his heart and lungs stopped suddenly. We must speculate this drug got into his system quickly."

Sevoflurane, which is easily accessible to hospital staff, evaporates when exposed to air.

Coroner Roger Stone said Mr Attree, of Beach Green, Shoreham, may have inhaled a lethal dose of the drug as he used it to clean his camera equipment.

Mr Stone recorded a verdict of accidental death.