Avon—'The Serial Killer'!

Published: Thursday, 16 March 2017

WITH now 12 people having drowned in the Avon at Bath since 2008, the river has been named The Serial Killer!

19 years old Henry Burke is the 12th person to have drowned in the river at Bath, with his family giving it the new name of "The Serial Killer", which they feel is warranted as time after time people drown in the river.

Staggering around

Alas, once again it was a case of Henry having visited pubs and clubs with friends from Bath Spa University on the night of the 25th of November, with the inquest into his death being told he was seen 'staggering around' near the river texting his girlfriend when he fell in and drowned.

As happens so often, his family have called for more safety measures, with Henry's father, Paul, telling the Bristol Post after the inquest:

Blaming the river

"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. The killer is the river. We all have responsibilities as adults to look after ourselves, but we don't."

Does whatever possible

Together with Henry's mother Sarah and younger brothers Piers and Oscar he called on the local authority to ensure that Henry was the last person to die in the river, and that it should do whatever is possible so another family  does not have to go through what they had to.

The inquest heard that the student was two and and a half times over the drink drive limit, was seen 'visibly swaying' as he walked towards a riverbank path, with the post-mortem showing he had 230mg of ethanol per 100ml of blood—nearly three times the drink drive limit and a head injury, thought to have knocked him out as he fell into the river.