AN inquest has opened into the death of a Northwich man who was known as a prolific shoplifter.

On Wednesday, Cheshire Coroner’s Court formally opened an inquest into Sam Taggart’s death.

He died at an address on Boothfields, Knutsford, on December 21 last year, aged 37.

During the hearing, it was heard that Mr Taggart was found unresponsive by his friend.

He had been unresponsive prior to this, but his friend had brought him ‘back round’ by performing CPR.

His friend then went to sleep but when he woke up, he found Mr Taggart dead.

Due to the cause of death being unnatural, senior coroner for Cheshire Jacqueline Devonish set an inquest date for December.

Although known as being a prolific shoplifter, Mr Taggart had been hailed as somewhat of 'a success story' during a court hearing last June which related to him stealing steak.

During this hearing, it was heard how Mr Taggart, who had 24 previous convictions before his death, was beginning to turn his life around after he cut down his alcohol consumption considerably and had landed a new job as a builder in London.