Radio Cymru: Former editor accidentally fell into river – inquest

Dr Meleri Morgan, a pathologist at the University Hospital of Wales, told the inquest that Mr Davies was alive when he entered the water.

“There was not enough alcohol in his body to prevent him from driving,” he said, “so that would not have had an effect on how he thought and behaved.”

The pathologist referred to “dry drowning” – where the shock of going into the water causes someone to go into cardiac arrest and die suddenly, before the lungs fill with water.

It was likely that that had happened in the case of Mr Davies, he said.

He added that the zip of Mr Davies’ trousers was open when he was found, and that suggested what his family believed, namely that he had slipped into the river while urinating.

He added that he could not rule out that he was hit, or that he fainted as a result of an arrhythmia and fell into the water.