A HOLIDAYMAKER drowned after falling into the water from his boat in Poole, an inquest has heard.

Businessman David Bidmead, 61, from Staffordshire died 10 days after he was pulled from the water at Salterns Marina in Lilliput in the early hours of July 3.

At the inquest into his death, held yesterday at Bournemouth Coroner’s Court, his wife of 22 years, Cristina Bidmead, said she discovered her husband in the water after being woken by a noise.

The court heard the couple were enjoying a stay on their boat, which they had recently moved to Poole. 

Mrs Bidmead said she went to bed at around 11.45pm and her husband told her he was going to have one last cigarette before joining her.

She told the court “At just after 1.30am I heard a muffled noise which appeared to be coming from the bottom of the boat.

“I ran to the stern calling out for David. I could see there was nobody onboard on the deck. I came around the back of the boat and saw him in the water.”

As she attempted to pull her husband out of the water, Mrs Bidmead called for help.

Douglas Burden, who was the duty night watchman at the marina, told the court he rushed over to the couple’s boat after hearing her screaming.

He pulled him from the water and called for an ambulance.

The court heard Mr Bidmead was taken to Poole hospital and was later transferred to St Thomas Hospital in London but he failed to regain consciousness.

Consultant pathologist Dr Will Chang recorded the cause of Bidmead’s death as hypoxic brain injury caused by drowning.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, East Dorset coroner Sheriff Payne said: “There are no signs of a heart attack or anything like that which may have caused him to fall into the water.”