Mystery still surrounds the death of a young man found in the River Ouse after a coroner recorded an open verdict.

Jason Clover: last seen near bridge

Jason Clover, 28, vanished on March 27 after celebrating the England football team's Euro 2000 win over Poland.

But he never made it home to his mother's house in Haig Street, Selby, where he was staying for the weekend.

His body was pulled from the Ouse at Riccall three weeks later by a narrow boat owner, a Selby inquest was told.

Blood and urine tests revealed a very high level of alcohol - but coroner Jeremy Cave said the post-mortem examination could not ascertain the cause of death.

Narrow boat owner John Pomfret said the river was nearly at high tide and flowing strongly when he saw something floating in the river. He recovered the body before alerting Cawood Bridge on his radio.

Jason's twin brother, Jonathan, said they had been out with friends on the day Jason disappeared, visiting a number of pubs to celebrate England's victory.

He said Jason was "pretty drunk", but was in good spirits when he last saw him about 10.30pm in the Londesborough Arms Hotel.

A friend, Stephen Mullins, said they had been on a pub crawl, and the last time he saw Jason he was walking past the Abbey towards the toll bridge.

Mr Cave said Jason appeared to be his normal self and did not seem to have any problems or worries.

He said: "He had had a lot to drink, but there is no evidence from any witness who saw him go into the water.

"There is no suspicion of foul play and no evidence that he deliberately did this to himself. It's probably just a tragic accident, but we have no evidence as to whether he toppled or tripped over, or whether he had had enough of life, or whether he was pushed.

"I have to record an open verdict because I am not absolutely certain."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.