AN INQUEST has failed to reveal why a 72-year-old York man died in the River Ouse last October.

Joseph Cafferkey had been missing from his Dijon Avenue home in Acomb for nearly three weeks before his body was found near Blue Bridge on October 20. His disappearance had sparked a major police search operation in York.

Detective Chief Inspector Fiona Wynne told a Northallerton inquest that though police had carried out extensive searches including a public appeal, they had been unable to discover where he went after he was last seen on October 1.

His neighbour Sandra Lorains said Mr Cafferkey had been concerned in the days leading up to his disappearance about some trees in his garden which he paid to be felled on September 29.

He had told her he was worried about going into hospital for ulcer treatment and had asked her to look after his cat. When she went to his house on October 2, she found a microwave meal defrosting in the fridge.

She alerted the police as Mr Cafferkey never spent more than 12 hours away from home if he went out to have a drink.

The inquest heard police checks had revealed York Hospital was not expecting him as a patient.

A post-mortem revealed Mr Cafferkey had drunk alcohol at some stage before his death that put him at twice the drink drive limit and that he had died from drowning.

He had no injuries that indicated anyone had attacked him or put him in the river.

Recording a narrative conclusion, assistant coroner John Broadbridge said: “I am utterly unable to say exactly what happened that led to Mr Cafferkey being in the water and thus his death.”

It was impossible to determine how long Mr Cafferkey had been in the river, he said.

DCI Wynne said police had been unable to discover where he had been drinking. He had not been to his normal pubs.

Mr Cafferkey was a retired labourer and volunteered at St Nicholas Fields nature reserve.