The best friend of teenager Edward Barry said the day before he was found dead, Edward had been swigging methadone.

Jake Deveney appeared before the jury at the inquest into Edward Barry’s death at Gravesend’s Old Town Hall.

Speaking on Monday, he described what happened on Edward’s last day alive and how he had two bottles of methadone in his bag which he swigged from on the train to Dartford.

Mr Deveney, who was 19 at the time, said he started smoking weed about six months after they first met in 2009 and began drinking.

He said: "He didn’t drink heavily. He took the drink and drugs together but it didn’t seem to have any effect on him. "On a day to day basis if he was drinking and smoking, I wouldn’t know.

"I did see a change over the months. By late summer I asked him why he kept doing drugs and his personality seemed completely different.

"I said ‘you’re turning into one of them’ and we had an argument."

The pair last met on November 19, the day before Edward was found dead in recovering heroin addict James Drummond’s flat in Parrock Street.

Ed, as he was known to his friends, called Mr Deveney from Mr Drummond’s flat and they agreed to meet up at the train station at 10am.

Mr Deveney said Ed’s appearance was different. He looked like he’d had a "bad night" and his clothes "were all wrinkled up".

He said: "I hadn’t seen him in a state like that before. He was obviously stoned – before I couldn’t tell, but that day he seemed quite dazed.

"He was really upset about breaking up with his girlfriend and didn’t know what he was going to do. "He’d kissed another girl and was worried he’d wrecked it. He was talking about all sorts of situations that would come out of it.

"He wasn’t going crazy but he was worried what would happen.

"Ed had a bag with him and it had methadone in it, a green liquid in a bottle with a white lid. On the train he had two cupfuls."

The pair, with other friends, then stayed at the skate park in Dartford until about 4pm. While there Ed took another sip of methadone, Mr Deveney said.

He continued: "He was a bit drowsy but that was his personality anyway so it was hard to know if it had any effect on him.

"On the train back, he asked if he could borrow some money for rent and bills and things.

"I got paid that day and agreed to give him some, think I gave him about £20."

Mr Deveney parted company with Ed but bumped into Mr Drummond as he headed up towards the Woodville and told him he’d given Ed cash so he could pay the rent.

The next day Mr Deveney was on a bus that went passed the flat in Parrock Street when he saw police cars and an ambulance outside following Ed’s death.

Mr Deveney added: "I thought someone had fallen down the stairs or there’d been a drug raid."

Another friend, Lewis Widdison, also gave evidence and said he'd lived at Mr Drummond's Parrock Street flat but left a few weeks before Ed moved in because of drug use.

He said he'd met up with Ed in Dartford on the same day and was offered methadone.

Mr Widdison, who'd given up drugs a fortnight before Ed died, told the inquest: "I didn't want it. I said to him be careful, but there wasn't much else I could do. What could I do?"

Describing Mr Drummond's flat, Mr Widdison added: "It wasn't a good environment to be in."

The inquest continues.