A coroner has likened a new unregulated drug that was introduced in Northern Ireland last year as being similar to having a serial killer on the loose.

John Leckey made his comments at an inquest in Belfast which is looking at the drug-related deaths of six people in NI.

The drug has a number of street names including, speckled cherries and speckled crosses.

The inquest heard it had been linked to 19 deaths in NI and eight in Hungary.