AN East Lancashire man found dead on a luxury yacht in Genoa died of natural causes, an inquest has found.

Boat engineer Simon Johnson, 35, of Brownlow Street, Clitheroe, died on board a Jersey-registered Motor Yacht Findings in March.

An Italian pathologist had suggested right ventricular disease may have been the cause of death but a post-mortem examination carried out in this country rebutted that as the cause of death.

Dr Mohammed Aslam, a consultant pathologist at Royal Blackburn Hospital, said he believed the cause of death was "sudden cardiac death".

He said the heart's natural rhythm had probably been disturbed by a faulty electrical impulse, the inquest heard.

The former Ski Rossendale instructor had been working as an engineer on the £4 million yacht off the coast of Genoa.

He was found dead in a cabin by a security guard but is believed to have died 18 hours earlier.

Police were intially called in to investigate and impounded the yacht, until they decided the death was not suspicious.

Simon, a former pupil at Alder Grange High School, Rawtenstall, studied technical drawing at Burnley College and worked at Ski Rossendale for several years before going to work on the slopes in France.

Simon and his fiancee Elanza, a deckhand on the same yacht, were due to marry next year in her home country of South Africa.

The boat had been docked in Genoa as it was in the process of being sold.

It was Simon and Elanza's intention to find work on another boat, en-route to their wedding.

He last visited the UK eight weeks before he died to attend a funeral and stayed with Emma.

Coroner Michael Singleton recorded a natural causes verdict.