Body pulled from Leeds & Liverpool

AN INQUEST heard how a keen rugby player's body had been pulled from the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

This culminated after a fraught three weeks search for Peter Curphey, Keith Gudgin reveals.

The body of the 44 years old was pulled from the waterway in Wigan, on the 11th April last year, leaving his family devastated.

Under influence of drugs

The inquest at Bolton Court heard how Peter Curphey had 'drowned whilst under the influence of a mixture of drugs'.

It also heard that the keen rugby player had a history of mental health issues and substance abuse and that he had been discharged from a mental health unit a few months earlier.

The hearing also heard how Peter Curphey was last seen on the evening of 17th March  when he and a friend took the anti-psychotic drug zopiclone.

The coroner concluded that Peter Curphey found dead in a canal following a three-week search fell into the water of the ill-lit canal 'unintentionally'