Houseboat man drowned in river

A MAN with a history of alcohol problems fell into the river at Newhaven and drowned, an inquest heard.

A MAN with a history of alcohol problems fell into the river at Newhaven and drowned, an inquest heard.

The body of former miner James Mulrooney, 66, was found floating near the swing bridge by two schoolboys on November 11 last year.

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An inquest at Eastbourne on Tuesday heard how Mr Mulrooney had been drinking with friends on a houseboat moored between North Way and Denton Island the night before his body was found.

A doctor s report said he had a history of heavy drinking and had been admitted to an alcohol treatment centre in the 1980 s. There were several times when he was treated at hospital for injuries suffered while drunk.

On the night of his death Mr Mulrooney, of Elphick Road, Newhaven, was drinking at the houseboat home of Trevor and Stephen Franklin and Ronald Read. It is believed he fell from the boat s gangplank as he made his way home and drowned. No one witnessed his fall.

Mr Mulrooney, who was already drunk, joined the men, who had been drinking cider, at around 7pm. Between them they finished off a bottle of whisky. Trevor Franklin said: 'If he went out drinking he used to quite often make us the last port of call.

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Ronald Read described the last time he saw Mr Mulrooney. 'He was laying on the gangplank covered in mud with his trousers round his ankles. Mr Read assumed he had fallen into the mud at low tide leaving the boat and had managed to clamber back on to the gangplank. The weight of the mud had pulled his trousers down.

'Calling

He added: 'I went back to my cabin and made up a bed for him, I hoped he would make his own way in but he never did. I heard him calling a bit later on, but I thought he was talking to someone.

The next afternoon two boys saw the body lodged against a groyne under the swing bridge and told their parents, who alerted police.

Coroner Alan Craze said it seemed Mr Mulrooney had attempted to leave the boat after the drinking session, had fallen into the water at high tide and drowned.

Verdict: misadventure.

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