A MAN whose body was found in the River Blakewater, sparking a murder-style inquiry, died after falling while four times over the legal drink drive limit.

Paul Parkinson was found on November 27, but an inquest yesterday recorded a verdict of accidental death and heard how he had drowned.

Mr Parkinson, 32, of Park Avenue, Clitheroe, had been drinking in Blackburn on November 26 after a meeting at the probation service and was supposed to catch a train home, the hearing was told.

He did not catch the train and workmen at the new Lidl supermarket, off King Street, discovered his body the following lunchtime. It is believed he had taken a short cut between King Street and George Street West.

Caroline Edmondson, Mr Parkinson's sister, said her brother, a plasterer, called her at 9.30pm when he was in the Adelphi pub close to the train station.

She said: "He said he'd been in several pubs and was in a good mood. He didn't sound drunk to me. I told him to get on a train and come home and he gave me the impression he would."

Police investigations into Mr Parkinson's movements prior to his death showed he had withdrawn money from the NatWest Bank, King William Street, at 7.40pm and was seen at the railway station around 8.50pm. He withdrew more money half an hour later in King William Street before ringing his sister.

DS Ian Critchley, of Blackburn police, told the inquest there had been a possible sighting of Mr Parkinson from people in the Malt and Hops pub, near Blackburn College, at 11pm, who described a man, who talked about getting a train to Clitheroe, as appearing drunk and unsteady. A definite sighting of him was reported at 11.05pm in King William Street, near to the Stonyhurst Road junction.

Police were called to the River Blakewater at the rear of the new Lidl premises at 12.10pm the following day after three workmen discovered Mr Parkinson's body lying face down in six inches of water.

Dr Charles Wilson, a Home Office forensic pathologist who carried out the post mortem examination, said injuries Mr Parkinson had suffered were consistent with a fall and evidence was consistent with drowning as a cause of death. There was also a reading of 327mg of alcohol in Mr Parkinson's blood. The drink drive limit is 80mg.

He said: "It was quite a dangerous place to be and easy to trip over. All the evidence supports a fall."

Michael Singleton, coroner for Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, recorded a verdict of accidental death. He said the reasons for Mr Parkinson being where he was were still unknown.