Cocaine deaths have reached their highest numbers since records began, official figures reveal.

A new report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found there were 432 deaths relating to use of the Class A drug in 2017, nearly quadruple the number in 2011 when rates began to rise again following a brief decrease.

The figures follow police warnings that low prices are fueling a boom in cocaine sales, with an estimated 875,000 people using the drug in England and Wales last year, a 15 per cent year-on-year hike.

Last week Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said “hypocritical” middle-class users were behind the trend which is partly driving the increase in gangland killings.

The ONS report found that deaths from cocaine - the second most commonly used drug after cannabis, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales - have increased 16 per cent from 2016 alone.