MYSTERY still surrounds the death of a popular young man who lost his life after ending up in the river near to his home.

Andrew Bird died in September last year after getting into difficulty while looking for something in the river at Haverigg, an inquest heard today.

The coroner’s court heard that Mr Bird was a “distinctive” character who suffered from Asperger’s syndrome and, despite being immensely popular, often fell victim to bullying by a small group of people.

Rumours surrounding Mr Bird’s death suggest that the 27-year-old was trying to retrieve some personal belongings that had been thrown into the river by teenagers, but there is no substantial evidence to support that claim.

David Roberts, senior coroner for Cumbria, said: “I’ve arrived at the conclusion that something very important to Andrew was in that river. I don’t know what it was and there is no way of establishing what it was or how it go into the river in the first place.

“Andrew was clearly agitated and was searching for something that was lost.”

The inquest heard from several witnesses who had seen Andrew, a former Furness College student from Millom, in the minutes leading up to his fateful accident.

One witness, a Mr Steven Richardson, told the court how he was out walking his dogs when he came across Mr Bird in his trademark camel duffle coat and train magazines looking somewhat agitated before jumping onto a wall and looking down onto the beach.

After asking him if he was alright, Mr Bird then jumped down from the wall but didn’t respond to Mr Richardson, who continued walking back to his home, before turning round around again to find Mr Bird on another bit wall further down the road, looking into the water.

Other witnesses provided evidence saying they had seen Mr Bird leaning over the wall as if he was looking for something.

Around 20 minutes later, an alarm was raised when a passerby spotted Mr Bird in the water.

David Vickers, who was out walking at the time, went into the river to rescue Mr Bird, and was assisted by a neighbour, Michael Parkinson.

The pair lay Mr Bird on the river bank and began to administer CPR while waiting for the police and an ambulance, which took 45 minutes to arrive at the scene.

The coroner ruled that Mr Bird's death at 8.50pm on September 24 was accidental.

Cheryl Bird, Andrew’s mother, paid tribute to her son saying: “When you go out the house you don’t expect that’s the last time you’re ever going to see your son.

“He was hugely, hugely popular - so popular that the pubs and clubs in town raised thousands of pounds for him and his church raised virtually the cost of his funeral. He was so well thought of.

“Andrew is loved and missed every single day.”