A SALES advisor died when he toppled into a canal as he walked home in the dark from a Christmas party.

An inquest heard Martin Willcocks, 68, died from immersion in water when he fell down a five metre bank into cold water one December night in 2023.

His family told a coroner he may have had something in his shoe and took it off but it had fallen into the water.

They said he would have tried to retrieve the shoe but had not considered the depth or temperature of the water.

But the coroner said how he ended up in the water next to a cycle track at Jetty Marsh Road was unknown.

Mr Willcocks, of Teigngrace, was spotted on CCTV near the bridge.

He was ‘moderately intoxicated’ - his blood alcohol reading at post mortem was 1.5 times the legal drink drive limit.

The inquest at Exeter Coroner’s Court was told he had been in ‘good spirits, happy and his usual self' at the Christmas party.

His family said he was fit and healthy but struggled walking as far as normal which he put down to a leg issue, being tired and getting older.

His wife Sharon said he did not have a phone with him and she cycled the route he would have taken that night looking but did not find him.

She reported him missing to police because it was so out of character and police found him face down in the canal the next morning.

A right trainer with turquoise laces was found in the water.

The inquest heard his trousers were down and he may have been urinating, misjudged the distance to and fallen in but this was also supposition.

Police and a post mortem concluded there were no suspicious circumstances or third party involvement.

The pathologist said Mr Wiillcocks did not drown but died from immersion in cold water which could have caused a cardiac arrest.

Devon Area coroner Nicholas Lane concluded it was accidental death.