A WOMAN found out about the death of her husband and son in a canal after her worried phone call was answered by a police officer at the scene, a coroner has heard.

The bodies of Martin Andrews, 43, and his son Jack, aged 19, were recovered from the Calder & Hebble Navigation near Cooper Bridge Road in Mirfield on June 16.

It emerged today that a police officer answered a call to one of the men's mobiles from Mr Andrews' wife Angela who was concerned that the pair had not returned home.

A member of the public had alerted West Yorkshire Police after finding personal items by the canalside near Navigation House. An officer noticed a mobile phone among the items was ringing and answered it.

Coroner's officer Paul Denison told Bradford Coroner's Court that Mrs Andrews told police her husband and son had left their home in Pudsey at 6.15am that morning and that she had been expecting them back by lunchtime.

The father and son, who lived at Waterloo Mount, had gone magnet fishing - trawling the bottom of the canal with a powerful magnet.

Mr Denison added that the underwater search team was called in, and divers were able to recover the men's bodies shortly after 7pm. They were both declared dead at the scene by paramedics at 7.15pm.

He said they had been "completed submerged close to the flood gates" in the canal.

Subsequent post mortem examinations, carried out at Bradford's forensic mortuary in Burnham Avenue by Dr Lisa Barker, confirmed the cause of death for both men was drowning.

Assistant coroner Peter Merchant said he was satisfied that both men had been formally identified by Mrs Andrews and that he was also satisfied with the cause of death.

He adjourned the inquests for further inquiries to take place.