THE ex-partner of a man found dead in a canal has paid tribute to her ‘wonderful’ friend.

Charlie Jackson, 37, was friends with 40-year-old Mark Atherton for 11 years – five of which were spent in a relationship.

She was with him in the Infirmary Hotel in Bolton Road, Blackburn, hours before he died, and said she asked him not to take the towpath along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal home to Hamilton Street.

Mr Atherton, who had been in the army, worked as a doorman and also as a warehouse manager for AMD Services, was last seen leaving the pub at 1.45am on Saturday.

Nine hours later, a group of people walking along the canal close to The Moorings pub, off Bolton Road, found his body.

Ms Jackson said: “I was with him in the pub until about 10.15pm on Friday and never thought it would be the last time I saw him.

"I’d even invited him round for something to eat over the weekend as we remained very close.

“He had been drinking that night, but he always worked so hard and he was just relaxing.

"I asked him to take the long way home, not go along the towpath, because it’s unlit and slippery, but that was his usual way.”

Ms Jackson, of the Lock 54 development in Bolton Road, believes Mr Atherton fell into the water and drowned because he couldn’t swim.

She added: “I’ve heard of so many people having to be pulled out of canals around here. It’s time something was done to improve safety.”

She plans to apply for a council grant to get ‘proper lighting and lockable gates’, adding: “I don’t think anyone should be going near the water after 5pm.”

During the time she knew Mr Atherton, Ms Jackson said he helped raise her two children – aged 17 and three.