THE circumstances surrounding the death of a man who went sea fishing in January will remain a mystery, a coroner said yesterday.

The partially-clothed body of George Darbyshire, 61, of Blackhall, County Durham, was found at Horden Point a few days after he was reported missing.

Mr Darbyshire, who was new to sea fishing, spoke to his wife, Rose, by mobile phone to say he was heading home from the beach but never arrived.

Pathologist Dr Paul Barrett said Mr Darbyshire, a former miner who worked as a security officer, died from immersion in the water.

“It is a combination of shock, water and cold,” he told the hearing at Chester-le- Street.

Mrs Darbyshire, 62, said her husband had started fishing in the sea in November but could not swim.

“He was supposed to go with a friend but his friend didn’t turn up,” she said.

After going for a haircut he went down to the nearby beach and she rang him at about 12.20pm on Tuesday January 12.

She said: “I just asked him if he was catching anything and he said ‘I’m soaking and I’m coming home’.”

When he had not returned by that evening, she reported his disappearance to police who conducted a search of the beach the following morning.

Sergeant Siobhan Jones said parts of his fishing rod were discovered two days later, and the following Sunday, Mr Darbyshire’s body was found on the beach by a member of the public.

She said there were no suspicious circumstances and that Mr Darbyshire had been in good spirits on the day he died “The sea was rough and cold on the day he went missing,”

she said.

“He was not an experienced fisherman. His friend had said ‘don’t go fishing by yourself, it is dangerous’.

“It is possible he has just been overcome by the cold.”

Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle said that how Mr Darbyshire ended up in the water was still not known.

He said: “He could have been overcome by waves, he could have got very cold and struggled with hypothermia.

“What I am unclear about is how he got in the water. We just don’t know that.”