AN inquest was dramatically halted amid claims that a man was living in great fear at the time of his death.

The claims came during the Huddersfield hearing into the death of Daniel Richard Simmons, 20.

He vanished in December, 2005, and his partially decomposed body was found in a storeroom-style passageway in Birkby in the middle of January last year.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

A post-mortem revealed that Mr Simmons died from inhaling butane gas.

He was on his back, wearing a mask which had a tube attached to a butane cylinder.

But the inquest was halted after Mr Simmons's mother, 41-year-old Jayne Langa, of Fartown, said her son had been beaten up earlier that year.

She also said threats had been made against him.

"These were serious threats," she said. "Daniel made a statement when he was beaten up."

After leaving the inquest she also said her son had been kidnapped early in 2005.

A close family friend, 40-year-old Anne-Marie Murphy, of Huddersfield, said: "Daniel told me he was in fear of his life and if he didn't leave Huddersfield he'd be dead."

But she said Daniel would not tell her who had been threatening him.

Coroner Roger Whittaker adjourned the inquest for further police inquiries into what the two women had said.

Earlier the inquest heard that Mr Simmons had been reported missing on Christmas Day, 2005.

He had argued with his mother on December 16, but had spoken to her on the phone the following day.

His body was found on January 14 last year in a passageway between two houses on Blacker Road.

A door had been installed near the top of the bricked up passageway, in effect turning it into a storeroom.

Consultant pathologist Dr George Thomas said Mr Simmons could have been dead for up to four weeks, which was the time he was last seen.

The principal analyst with West Yorkshire Analytical Services, Richard Sykes, said there were high and fatal levels of butane in Mr Simmons's brain and lungs.

He added: "Death would have been very quick."

Pc Karen George, Kirklees Police's co-ordinator for missing from home cases, said that a few years ago Mr Simmons had talked about using equipment to inhale gas.

Det Sgt Paul Simm, of Huddersfield CID, said people living in one of the homes on Blacker Road found the body while they were shifting rubble and debris from the passageway.

He said Mr Simmons was lying on his back, covered by various sheets. His head and arms were outside them.

He still had the mask on, connected to the 12-kilogram butane gas cylinder.

Det Sgt Simm said he was satisfied that no-one else was involved in Mr Simmons's death.

He added: "Access to the storeroom was very restricted.

"With the position and circumstances in which he was found I am quite happy there was no third party involvement.

"There were no apparent injuries."

The inquest will be resumed at a date yet to be set.