An inquest has ruled that the drowning of former lorry driver Anthony Perry in a knee-high brook last year was an accident.

Mr Perry, 60, was found lying in the brook, next to Horsebrook, Calne, by a man walking his dog on August 29 last year.

He lived alone in Horsebrook, and had no next of kin.

The inquest, at Trowbridge Town Hall on Wednesday last week, heard that the night before he was found Mr Perry had been drinking at the Liberal Club in Oxford Road where he was a regular.

Club steward Jonathan Russell said: “He came in the club at the usual time at about 7.30 to 8pm. He sat at the end of the bar and read his newspaper and did his crossword. I wouldn’t say anything untoward or unusual. At 11.50pm we shared a joke, which he often liked to do, and said: ‘Right, I’ll see you tomorrow’, picked up his bag of shopping and went out the door.”

The court heard he had consumed about eight bottles of beer that night, and blood tests showed he had 209 milligrammes in his bloodstream, which would have effected his balance and movements.

The next morning Kevin Williams, who was staying at his girlfriend’s in Horsebrook, was walking his dog at about 8.30am when he discovered Mr Perry lying in the water.

He said: “I saw a bag down by the steps. I thought someone had left it there. As I looked round I saw the body in the water. I ran straight up to my girlfriend’s house, kicked the door open and told her to phone an ambulance and the police. Then I ran back down and jumped in the brook.”

Mr Williams said he struggled to get Mr Perry’s body out of the brook and how he found it difficult to get out of the brook himself. The body was eventually retrieved by firefighters.

A pathologist’s report gave the cause of death as drowning, with alcohol toxicity listed as a contibutory factor.

The court heard that although Mr Perry’s journey home would not have taken him past the brook, it is possible that he decided to go down to the waterside to smoke before he went to his house.

The area around the shallow brook would have been dark at that time of night. There were no signs of a struggle or disturbance on the banks, and Mr Perry’s body did not bear any injuries that would indicate an assault or that a struggle took place.

Citing the alcohol that Mr Perry had consumed, and the lack of indication of a struggle, deputy assistant coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Ian Singleton, said: “Anthony Perry slipped or lost his footing whilst descending the wooden steps and as a result entered the brook and sustained the injuries from which he subsequently died. He died as a result of an accident.”