Restaurateur had heart attack before drowning

A retired restaurateur drowned in Spain after suffering a heart attack while surfing, an inquest was told last week.

Alan Cridland, 54, of Ringwood, Hampshire, paddled out in calm conditions near the resort of Tarifa Cadiz.

When his surfboard was washed ashore, a German tourist noticed Cridland floating in the sea. He was pulled to shore but he was already dead.

Cridland's brother, Terry, travelled to Spain to find out what had happened.

At the inquest in Southampton, he said: "The Spanish authorities told me he had drowned, but his friends in Spain were surprised when I told them this.

"He was a strong swimmer and was told that the conditions had been dead calm. Apparently, he asked others if they wanted to join him in the water, but they didn't because there were no waves. They said he went out dressed in his wet suit to paddle about."

Coroner Keith Wiseman recorded a verdict of accidental death and said: "The evidence suggests he didn't die just from drowning, but suffered a heart attack which incapacitated him."

Cridland ran the 60-seat Beach House Caf‚ in Lyme Regis, Dorset, for seven years.