THE parents of a teenager who died after being found in the water of Weymouth Harbour have appealed for new information surrounding his death.

Julia and Nick Vaughan spoke to the Echo after a coroner ruled that the death of their 18-year-old son, Chris, was an accident.

Chris was pulled out of the water earlier this year on Thursday, January 9 at around 2.45am.

He was found near Westham Bridge with a life ring buoy wrapped loosely around his leg.

He was taken to Dorset County Hospital but was later pronounced dead after doctors had tried to resuscitate him.

During the inquest, it re-mained unclear how a life ring buoy ended up in the water with Chris.

Chris’ mother, Julia, said: “If anybody has anything to add that helps us just understand what happened, we would so much appreciate it, even if it was anonymous.”

Nick said: “The conclusion of accidental death - as much as there’s no evidence to point towards anything else, there’s no evidence pointing towards it either.

“Personally, I find it impossible to believe that he would mysteriously grab the life ring, climb up the rails and jump in the water.

“We were looking for an open verdict because there’s no clear indication as to how he got into the water or why he got into the water.

“We know there were people around at the time but we don’t know who. There’s a reasonable chance that somebody may recall something.”

The inquest at County Hall in Dorchester revealed Chris had been out the previous evening at Finns bar with his flatmate Max Lench and girlfriend Tara Neels.

Ms Neels and Mr Lench left the bar before Chris, the court heard.

Speaking as a witness, Ms Neels said Chris wanted to stay out longer and they’d agreed he’d return to their flat by 2am.

By 2am, Chris hadn’t returned. Ms Neels told the court she went out to look for him.

She soon discovered him around 2.30am in the water near Westham Bridge after hearing a man groaning. The emergency services were called and Chris was later found by a RNLI Inshore Lifeboat crew member below the pedestrian footbridge.

He was taken back to the boat and handed straight over to the paramedics.

Pathologist Dr Mark Deverill confirmed Chris’ death was a consequence of immersion into cold water.

He said Chris was suffering from severe hypothermia and a lack of oxygen.

The court heard 152mg of alcohol had been recorded in 100ml of Chris’ blood but Dr Deverill said this did not indicate alcohol poisoning.

Dr Deverill said he was unable to say whether low body temperature or the act of drowning led to Chris’ death but it could have been a combination of the two. DC Peter Gray of Dorset Police said the last piece of CCTV footage they had of Chris showed him leaving Finns at 1pm.

Chris’ parents are appealing for any witnesses who were in the vicinity of Finns and Westham Bridge between 1am and 2am that morning.

Chris, who was born in Cardiff and grew up in Kidderminster, moved to Weymouth last year to live with Tara.

Summing up, senior coroner Sheriff Payne said things were going well in Chris’ life and he held aspirations of going to university.

Mr Payne said the circumstances were regrettable but he had no reason to believe others were involved in Chris’ death.

He said: “He alone was responsible for ending up in the water. I can find no evidence to indicate that anybody else was connected with that.”