The parents of an autistic teenager who died from an accidental overdose say they had to investigate his death themselves to find out what killed him.
Will Melbourne, 19, had mistakenly taken metonitazene, a strong synthetic opioid he bought on the dark web.
But his family had to wait three years for his inquest and say they then had to follow a digital "trail of breadcrumbs" to find out how he died.
Warrington Coroner's Service said it was not permitted to comment.
Sally and John Melbourne, from Cheshire, say the long wait for the inquest into their son's death put their lives and their grief on hold. At the pre-inquest hearing the family were told the court was short-staffed and had a backlog of 500 cases, which had built up over the pandemic.
They say they only discovered what drug their son had taken before he died, on 18 December 2020, after investigating his death with one of his friends - including examining photographs that showed the scene of Will's death.
They say a vital piece of evidence - the packet of blue pills found next to Will's body - was not tested until they raised it with the coroner's court a year after his death.
Their son's blood sample was destroyed after the company storing it went into administration, and by the time it came to the inquest, the family say they felt traumatised by the whole process.
"We thought the inquest system was there to give us answers," Mrs Melbourne says. "Instead, we felt blocked at every turn. It was outrageous that we had to take the investigation on ourselves."
