THE owner of a city caravan park drowned while carrying out what he called his 'mucky job'.

Alan Edmunds had not flinched from the routine checks and occasional unblocking of drains at Kings Acre Halt Caravan Park.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 14, last year, he would not have hesitated to fetch rods to clear a manhole that had filled with sewage.

At an inquest at Hereford Town Hall on Monday, friends and colleagues said the 54-year-old co-owner of the park and Grafton Car Sales nearby, was discovered immersed upside down in a drain, after attempting a particularly tricky task on his own.

Searched site

Deputy coroner, Mark Bricknell, recorded a verdict of accidental death and heard that Mr Edmunds - son of former city businessman and Hereford United director the late Percy Edmunds - had fallen in headfirst after removing the drain cover.

His body was discovered by business partner Mark Harding. He had carried out a search of the caravan site, fearing for the welfare of his colleague who had suffered with hip problems, when he heard that he hadn't been seen for several hours.

It was when he was systematically replacing manhole covers and checking behind caravans that he saw Mr Edmund's glasses, a screwdriver and a torch, by the side of a drain. Mr Edmunds's feet and ankles were visible.

His body was recovered by the emergency services and police launched an official investigation into his death. No suspicious circumstances were reported.

None of the search parties looking for him that afternoon had dreamed he might have fallen into one of the sewage drains.

Health and Safety Executive officer, Hugh Emment, agreed that Mr Edmunds would have fallen in headfirst. He said the drain wall had bowed in on one side and together with the sloping ground outside, his movements would have been restricted. The blockage was caused by the roots of a nearby tree.

Mr Edmunds, who had lived with his mother, would normally have attempted such a job with a colleague.

Summing up, Mr Bricknell said it had been a sad and unfortunate accident. He confirmed that Mr Edmunds had drowned.