A FORMER charity manager who died following a dive in Lyme Bay had a number of underlying health problems, an inquest was told.

Roger Erling Matland, 65, died on April 29 last year after a trip to the Moidart wreck.

His dive buddy Christopher Chapman told an inquest at County Hall in Dorchester that Mr Matland, of St Charles Square in London, was an experienced diver and the pair had been on numerous dives together since 1991.

Mr Chapman said they descended from the dive boat Blue Turtle to a depth of around 30 metres but almost as soon as they reached the bottom Mr Matland turned around to return to the surface.

He said: “He was not going up the line quickly as I actually went up the line with him.

“As we went up I couldn’t get a response off him.”

Mr Chapman said as they surfaced the dive boat immediately came to their assistance and he and the crew tried but failed to resuscitate his friend.

Mr Matland was pronounced dead on arrival at Dorset County Hospital.

Pathologist Dr Ian Calder, who carried out a post mortem, said there was evidence of both severe coronary artery disease and respiratory disease and Mr Matland also had a history of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

West Dorset Coroner Michael Johnston said Mr Matland’s coronary artery disease or respiratory disease could have triggered the incident that made him feel unwell and return to the surface but it was impossible to say for certain what it was.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Mr Johnston said: “Here I think we have a situation of a man who is determined not to give in and I suspect goes on doing things when perhaps it was not necessarily advisable.”