AN epilepsy sufferer suffered a fit as he walked along the River Severn, fell in and drowned, an inquest heard.

Thomas Loveridge was walking along the towpath 200 yards from the Diglis Hotel with his friend Paul Mann on Friday, March 11 when the incident occurred.

In a statement read out to Worcestershire County Coroner's Court in Stourport-on-Severn, Mr Mann said that at about 5pm Mr Loveridge, who was staying at Maggs Day Centre in Deansway, had a seizure and started to stagger before falling down an embankment into the river.

"He was lying face up, conscious and trying to say something but not moving," Mr Mann said. "I went to the boat house to raise the alarm and when I got back he was drifting away."

Henrietta Pratley, who was walking her dog in the area, described how two boatmen arrived to throw the 37-year-old father-of-four a rope but it was clear he was not going to react.

"They put a boat in the water to pull him out but he floated away and submerged."

Pathologist Geoffrey Smith said the cause of death was drowning in the river following an epileptic fit.

Worcestershire Coroner Victor Round, who said it was believed Mr Loveridge did not take his epilepsy tablets regularly, recorded a verdict of accidental death.