Three of the young people from Bridgend who killed themselves for no apparent reason had taken alcohol or illegal drugs that may have affected their judgement, a coroner said today.

Traces of the amphetamine MDMA, cocaine and morphine were found in the body of Allyn Price, 24, after his body was discovered in the family garage last April, and his best friend Leigh Jenkins, 22, was three times over the drink-drive limit and had amphetamines in his system when he died four weeks later.

A third man, 27-year-old Gareth Morgan, was two-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit when he was found dead in January this year.

Philip Walters, the Bridgend coroner, declined to record suicide verdicts for any of the three men, because of the effect that the drugs or alcohol might have had on their judgement. He told the inquests into their deaths that there needed to be "definite intention" for a verdict of suicide.

The trio are three of 17 young people from the county of Bridgend, South Wales, who are thought to have taken their own lives since January last year.

The coroner was today holding hearings into five of the deaths at Brackla Tabernacle Church, near Bridgend.

Alan Rees, a pathologist, said that traces of the amphetamine MDMA, cocaine and morphine were found in Mr Price’s body, and the coroner said: "I would accept what Dr Rees has said that the drugs could have affected his mood and judgment."

Gwynfor Price, Allyn’s father, described his son as "happy-go-lucky". He said his son had gone back and forth between the house and garage at the rear of the family home on Salisbury Road, Maesteg, the day he died.

He saw his son in the kitchen applying a plaster to a cut on his hand at about 7.30pm, before later finding him hanging.

Allyn Price’s girlfriend, Alisha Austin, who he met about five years ago, said he had started spending time with some boys she did not like. She described how he had changed and how he became "short-tempered" at times.

Recounting a phone conversation they had the day he died, she said: "He said, ’I have got nothing to live for. Will you always be there for me?’ I said, ’Yes, of course’."

Recording a short narrative verdict, Mr Walters said the cause of death was asphyxia due to ligature of the neck. "Certainly there was nobody else directly involved in Allyn’s death."

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