A HEARTBROKEN father has described a picturesque river as a “serial killer” after it claimed the life of his student son.

Henry Burke, a 19-year-old from Ripon, was the 12th person to die in the River Avon at Bath in the last ten years.

A geography student, he had been out celebrating on November 24 last year after being picked for the Bath Spa University rugby first team.

He visited a number of pubs, ending up at the city’s Zero Zero nightclub and after leaving it was not allowed back in because the bouncer said he appeared drunk.

He was spotted on CCTV cameras walking alone and unsteadily, swaying as he moved.

His body was later found in the river and tests showed he would have been more than two-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit.

His inquest heard he could have “entered the water by accident due to intoxication by alcohol" – and coroner Robert Sowersby concluded his death was accidental.

His father Paul Burke said after the hearing in Bath: "It's a beautiful town, it's a beautiful river and if the river was a human being it would probably be the biggest serial killer in Bath and we'd be spending millions of pounds trying to find that killer but we know what the killer is.”

He called on the local council to make the river as safe as possible and added: "We would like Henry to become the last person to die as a result of the river that runs through Bath city centre.”