Mystery surrounds the death of Bristol man Jonathan Rea, whose body was found in the River Avon the day after he had gone out to look for his sister's missing dog.

An open verdict was recorded into the 36-year-old's death at an inquest in Flax Bourton.

Coroner Anthony Woodburn was told Mr Rea, who lived in Capgrave Crescent in Brislington with his sister Stella O'Brian-Reader, went looking for her pet on November 30 last year.

Firefighters in an inflatable dinghy recovered Mr Rea's body from the Avon close to the back of his home the following day and police did not treat the death as suspicious.

The inquest heard that pathologist Professor Huw White, of Southmead Hospital, was unable to establish exactly how Mr Rea had died and the cause of death was classed as unascertained.

A toxicology report revealed Mr Rea had alcohol in his system which would have placed him two times above the drink driving limit.

The inquest was told that father-of-two Mr Rea became depressed when he split with his partner and mother of his children when he was in his 20s.

He moved in with his sister in Brislington and was badly affected by a tumour, which left him with memory and mobility problems.

In a statement read at the inquest, she said: "He never made any attempts to take his own life and wouldn't have done, for his children's sake.

"In my opinion it would have been the last thing on his mind. He had been really happy at the time."

Concluding the case, Mr Woodburn said: "We are not able to say with any degree of certainty that drowning might have been a possibility.

"The evidence from the family and from his GP showed that in the past he had self-harmed, was a heavy alcohol drinker, suffered with depression and had medication for that.

"I have to record an open verdict because I can't say with any degree of probability that any other verdict is possible.

"I have no evidence that he wanted to take his own life or was assaulted. There is also no evidence that any other incident intervened to cause life to become extinct."