During an inquest into the death of Australian rocker Nick Cave’s son in July, it has been revealed that he had taken LSD before before falling to his death off a cliff.

Arthur Cave, 15, suffered a fatal brain injury after plunging from the cliff onto the underpass of Ovingdean Gap in Brighton, East Sussex, on July 14.

He was taken to hospital but died that evening.

The inquest heard that Arthur and a friend shared three tabs of LSD on the afternoon of his death after reading about side effects on the internet.

The pair were walking home when the hallucinogenic effect kicked in and they were separated, with Arthur later seen walking in a zig zag motion, holding his trousers up, across a grassy verge toward the white cliffs.

Witnesses said he climbed a fence and was starring out to sea before he fell the 20m. Some motorists jumped out of their cars in traffic as he staggered toward the fence in what some suspected was caused by alcohol or drugs, before he toppled over.

Nick Cave and his wife Susie Bick attended the inquest but left the room when graphic forensic evidence was presented.