THE family of a Bournemouth man who died after falling from his boat in Greece are asking for help after the inquest into his death failed to provide answers.

The coroner’s court at Bournemouth heard on Tuesday that John William Ennis, 67, died last September.

John, who had lived much of his life in Bournemouth and ran his own carpet business before retraining as a probation officer, had sailed to Greece in his boat to retire. He lived at Christchurch before he left for Greece.

The inquest into his death heard that there was little official information from the Greek authorities, despite efforts from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The hearing was told that there were varying accounts as to what happened on September 2 and now the family is asking for anyone with knowledge of Greece and its legal system to help them.

John’s daughter, Kate, told the inquest that her dad was an experienced yachtsman of 40 years.

The most detailed account of the night came from Steve Langton, who had become friends with John at Vliho, Levkas.

He was not present at the hearing, but an email exchange between him and Kate was read out.

The hearing was told that John was thought to have gone to help a neighbouring boat in a storm before he fell overboard.

John’s son, Joe, told the inquest: “We did try to find out more when we were out there, but it was very difficult. You would get a picture of what we thought happened and then someone would say ‘no, that didn’t happen’.”

Another account, he said, was that John was with two women on the boat, found the anchor dragging and went into a dinghy to try to free it.

In this account, the women, thought to be sisters from Germany, got back on to the boat and saw John in the water. He then got out before “everything just stopped”.

In his email, Mr Langton said that one of the two women called him at 2am to say that John was in the water.

He was dragged onto the boat, CPR carried out and an ambulance called.

Mr Langton said: “I would say it was more like 45 minutes until the ambulance arrived. I had time to think that John’s chances were ebbing away by the minute.”

John was pronounced dead soon afterwards.

A post mortem in the UK was inhibited by the fact that John’s body had been embalmed before being repatriated and it was impossible to determine a cause of death.

The deputy coroner, Brendan Allen, said he had no option but to record an open verdict because of the lack of evidence.

Speaking to the Daily Echo after the inquest, Kate said: “We have no information really about what happened.

“The Greeks won’t provide any information. We were told that the Greeks wouldn’t provide information unless we instructed a solicitor.

“For us it’s about seeing if we can contact somebody who will then enable us to approach the Greek police to help us gain a clear insight as to what happened.”

Kate also said that, although it was not heard at the inquest, a post mortem was also held in Greece and it found drowning to be the cause of death. But that was not found to be satisfactory as far as the UK system was concerned.

Anyone who can help the family should contact the Echo by emailing newsdesk@bournemouthecho.co.uk