Verdict on boat death (From Gazette Series)

Verdict on boat death

AN OPEN verdict was recorded on Wednesday on the death of a 46-year-old Slimbridge man who vanished from his stranded canal boat but and was then found dead in the River Severn four weeks later.

Clinton Taylor's body was found in the Epney area after reports to police that a body had been seen floating in the water on March 26.

His barge, Rambler B, on which he lived at Shepherds Patch, Slimbridge, had been found stuck on the weir near Llanthony Bridge, Gloucester on February 26 with just his cat on board.

Pathologist Dr Jeremy Uff told the Gloucester inquest he had carried out a post mortem, which showed that Mr Taylor died from drowning.

But he added that there were a number of natural diseases present, including liver damage, which could have contributed to how Mr Taylor ended up in the water.

The dead man's father, Alec Taylor, said his son had started living on the boat in November 2004.

He described his son as "happy go lucky" and said the last time he had seen him he had seemed happy.

Gloucester lock keeper Jonathan Chater said he had seen Mr Taylor on the day he disappeared and noticed his breath smelt of alcohol but he did not seem drunk.

He said he advised Mr Taylor not to continue his travel but had no authority to stop him.

Mr Chater said that when Taylor tried to go through the lock, his engine began to smoke because he had failed to untie his barge from the shore. Gloucester Coroner Alan Crickmore said it was impossible to rule out that a third party was involved - although he considered it unlikely.

"I think the likely scenario was that he was not sober and was an inexperienced boatman but there is no evidence of how he came to be in the water." Verdict: Open Verdict

* Previously police said that although Mr Taylor had received a four year jail sentence in September 1998 for offences of abduction and making threats to kill they did not believe there was anything suspicious about his disappearance and death.

When he was jailed the court heard he had been one of a gang of four 'heavies' who took 33-year-old heroin addict John Thurston on a nightmare car journey in an attempt to make him repay an outstanding drugs debt.

One gang member used a pair of pliers to torture the addict. All four were later jailed.