A Coroner has recorded an open verdict on a York man who plunged from a bridge into the River Wharfe.

A huge search was launched after Paul Butterfield, 30, was seen in the river by a number of people on March 7 last year.

His body was recovered from the Wharfe near Ulleskelf almost four weeks later.

Christine Rhodes, Mr Butterfield's former partner and mother of their two-year-old daughter, Jaye, was cleared of his manslaughter earlier this year.

Miss Rhodes was alleged to have pushed him off the bridge parapet at Tadcaster following an argument, but she was acquitted by a jury at Hull Crown Court after a two-week trial.

Unemployed Mr Butterfield, former assistant manager at William Hill's bookmakers in Tadcaster, lived with Miss Rhodes at Stutton before moving out and renting a flat on his own in Acomb, near York.

Coroner Jeremy Cave told the Selby inquest that the cause of death was drowning.

A toxicology test revealed a high reading of alcohol in Mr Butterfield's blood and urine.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Barlow said there had been a conflict of evidence at the trial, and the jury decided he had not been pushed.

Detectives had spoken to nearly everyone who was in Tadcaster that night. They had established he was on the parapet, but there was no evidence to prove how he got there or what happened after that.

The inquest heard that Mr Butterfield had talked about taking his life, but there was no suicide note.

Mr Cave said: "There is no evidence to suggest he took his own life and there is no clear body of consistent evidence which shows how he went into the river."

Mr Butterfield's father John, an accountant from Towton, and his wife, Joyce, both attended the inquest.

They declined to comment afterwards.

Updated: 09:13 Tuesday, June 26, 2001