A 22-YEAR-OLD Newcastle Emlyn man tragically drowned in the River Teifi in July after taking a cocktail of drugs and alcohol before going for a swim, an inquest has heard.

Despite the heroic efforts of his friends Christopher Charles Fisher and Carl Alun Williams, and his girlfriend Haf Lloyd, who all tried in vain to save his life, Jeremy Pendragon drowned on Thursday, 6 July, near Newcastle Emlyn.

In what the coroner Peter Brunton described as a “recipe for disaster”, an inquest today (Tuesday) heard that Mr Pendragon, who was also known as Jem Cole, entered the water after consuming alcohol and a number of drugs, including ecstasy, cocaine and diazepam.

Mr Brunton heard that Mr Pendragon, of Bridge Street, Newcastle Emlyn, had been on a night out with his friends the night before, and that they had decided to go to the river the following morning where they drank rum and beer.

After Mr Pendragon got into difficulty while trying to swim across the river, Mr Fisher, Mr Williams and Ms Lloyd all made efforts to save him before he went under the water at around 12.30pm.

Following a huge search operation involving a police helicopter, coastguards and a fire service drone, Mr Pendragon’s body was found by a specialist police diver at 7.35pm.

Mr Brunton,returning a verdict of misadventure, said: “The only lesson that can be drawn from this very sad event is not to mix alcohol and illegal drugs and go swimming. It is simply a recipe for disaster.

“May I express my profound sympathies to Mrs Pendragon [Mr Pendragon’s mother] and her family.

“To lose a child at the age of 22 is a dreadful blow. He had his whole life ahead before him.”