Man found friend drowned in canal

A narrow boat owner found his friend’s body in a canal 36 hours after he left him drinking in a pub.
GRIM FIND Emergency services at Savile Town Wharf, off Mill Street East, last November.GRIM FIND Emergency services at Savile Town Wharf, off Mill Street East, last November.
GRIM FIND Emergency services at Savile Town Wharf, off Mill Street East, last November.

Raymond Leslie Farrar was looking after Terrence Daley’s boat, Mayelle, which was moored at Savile Town Wharf in November last year.

They often spent summer travelling around in the boat, with Mr Farrar and his friend acting as crew.

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The men were drinking at The Leggers Inn, Savile Town on November 22. Mr Daley left just after 8pm, expecting Mr Farrar, 63, to follow later, Huddersfield Coroners’ heard on Wednesday.

CCTV footage showed that Mr Farrar was still in the pub at around 9.30pm, but when Mr Daley woke up the next morning his friend was not in the boat.

The hearing was told that Geraldine Clegg and her husband, who own a boat moored at the marina, heard a loud splash at around 9.30pm on the frosty Friday night, but could see nothing after a 20 minute search with a torch.

Mr Daley spent the following morning trying to locate Mr Farrar, of Victoria Street, Ravensthorpe, to no avail.

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But when he woke up at around 9.45am the following day he saw a body floating face down in the water beside his boat. He recognised the hunter’s cap and camouflaged jacket as Mr Farrar’s.

Emergency services were called and the body was pulled from the water.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Farrar died from drowning with a contributory factor being a cut on his head. Blood tests showed that he had consumed the equivalent of six pints of beer.

Police believe that Mr Farrar slipped and banged his head on the jetty, which becomes very slippery in icy conditions.

They also noted that there was no handrail on the jetty.

Coroner Mary Burke’s verdict was that Mr Farrar died as the result of an accident.

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