A couple whose bodies were discovered on the Ceredigion Coast Path in April succumbed to hypothermia after a late night camping trip in pitch darkness and below freezing temperatures went wrong, an inquest has heard.

Mandy Mousley and Emyr Jacob Davies were found dead near New Quay on Wednesday, 4 April after being reported missing the previous Sunday when they failed to return from a camping trip.

An inquest heard on Wednesday that the bodies of Ms Mousley, 47, a former carer who worked at Costcutter in New Quay, and 49-year-old Mr Davies, a farmer from Llanarth, were discovered “entwined in brambles and gorse” 200 yards from the field where they had left their tent.

A post-mortem found the pair had a cocktail of drugs in their system, but that the primary cause of death was hypothermia.

The inquest heard the couple had set off on the camping trip “ill prepared” for the conditions, with the temperature dropping to two degrees, and near 40mph wind bring the temperature down below freezing.

The inquest heard that the coast path would have been in “complete darkness”, and that the couple had become separated before getting into difficulties which led them to sprawl into thick gorse, becoming trapped.

The inquest heard that the effect of variety of drugs in the systems of Ms Mousley and Mr Evans would have “rendered them incapable of getting out of the predicament they found themselves in.”

The couple were found with severe scratches, and wearing no shoes.

Mr Davies, a keen camper, phoned a friend at just before midnight to say the couple “were in a bit of a pickle”, the inquest heard, before the line went dead.

Concerned friends and relatives reported the pair missing the following morning.

Their bodies, found around 100m apart, were spotted by the Coastguard helicopter in a field above the coast path near Coybal farm during a multi-agency search.

They were found only around two miles from Ms Mousley’s home.

HM Coroner for Ceredigion Peter Brunton, recording a verdict of death by misadventure, told the inquest that the couple had chosen a “terrible night to go camping” with “below zero temperatures, high winds and rain”.

“The coastal path also would have been in total darkness, which explains why they became separated,” he said.

“In pitch darkness they became entangled in brambles and gorse where they fell.

“They got lost and succumbed to the elements.”