A ROUGH sleeper was found dead in a car park in Colchester, an inquest has heard.

Colin Underwood, of no fixed address, was discovered unresponsive in the car park behind The Gym, in Queen Street, on Thursday, March 21.

An inquest into the 31-year-old's death was opened at Chelmsford Coroner's Court on Wednesday.

Coroner's officer Maggie Ostacchini said: "Paramedics tried to resuscitate him but sadly he passed away.

"Police are satisfied this was a non-suspicious death.

"A postmortem was carried out which has given a provisional cause of death as awaiting toxicology results."

Senior Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray set a date for the full inquest of September 10.

She said: "I will require a copy of the postmortem and toxicology results.

"I will also require a copy of the police statement and the family can provide a statement if they want to."