A MISSING Brierley Hill man is believed to have slipped and fell into the canal he drowned in, an inquest was told.

Simon Smith's body was discovered in the water near Meeting Lane, Brierley Hill, by a member of the public on December 27 last year.

An inquest, held at Black Country Coroners Court on Friday, was told that the father-of-two, who lived in Yorke Avenue, was last seen on December 3.

The 50-year-old carpenter had spent the day visiting his brother and sister-in-law, Christopher and Susan Smith.

Mr Smith - whose family said had come to rely on alcohol in later years - had drunk more than a litre of cider before he left their house to go home and had appeared to be "in a good mood", according to his sister-in-law.

But four days later, Mr Smith's family were forced to call the police after they realised noone had heard from him.

Appeals were put out on social media and searches took place, however they were hampered by poor weather conditions.

A search of the canal took place on December 18 but was unsuccessful - it wasn't until December 27 that a member of the public found him and raised the alarm.

Senior coroner Zafar Siddique said a post mortem had revealed that Mr Smith - who was just under three times the drink drive limit - had died from drowning.

He added: "Having heard all the evidence, the weather conditions were particular icy, snowy as well... the fact he'd been drinking... on the balance of probabilities this is likely an accidental death.

"He's fallen into the canal, obviously he's been drinking, he's intoxicated, the shock of falling into extremely cold water can shut down the body very quickly.

"There's no evidence of third party involvement, appears to be no evidence of external injuries. given all circumstances accidental death, likely due to the influence of alcohol.

"I don't think this was a deliberate act."