Concerns have been raised about the overgrown state of a footpath from which a pensioner fell into a river and drowned.

Harry Martin, 74, died last month less than half a mile from his home in Grange Road, Riddlesden. A Bradford inquest heard on Tuesday that Mr Martin, who was recovering from a severe stroke several months earlier, had set off alone to walk along the footpath beside the River Aire at Stockbridge. His body was recovered by a police underwater search unit after his wife Evelyn reported he was missing.

In a letter read to the inquest, Mr Martin's daughter Marion Pearson said the family felt the footpath was in a dangerous state. She described it as overgrown, steeply sloping and narrow. "There could at least be warnings as to its state," she added.

PC Mark Wycherley, who initiated the search for Mr Martin, said the path was quite narrow and uneven in parts. As he walked along it, looking for the missing man, he noticed that at some points the vegetation was overgrown so much that it was not possible to make out the riverbank. It was flattened in parts, as though it had been cut.

"As soon as you stepped on the vegetation, you were in the river," he said.

The officer added that anyone walking on the footpath itself would not have had any difficulty.

He found Mr Martin in the river after noticing his walking stick on the bank.

Stephen Core, Keighley and Ilkley highways section manager for Bradford council, said maintenance work had been done on the path two days before the tragedy following a written request from the Ramblers Association. It involved two workers using industrial strimmers to cut a way through behind the Magnet joinery works and the cleansing department.

"The river starts to meander a bit and there were large areas of nettles and brambles which, in hindsight, could have been cut back," added Mr Core.

"There was an area where the path was a little vague. Perhaps we should have cut it back a bit more."

Mr Core said budget limitations meant there was no annual maintenance programme for the many footpaths in the district, but work was done whenever a complaint was received.

"I am afraid it is just firefighting really," he added. "Because there are so many, and the budget is quite small, we can only carry out routine maintenance and act on reports."

Further work was carried out on the path after the incident, including the creation of a different line taking walkers further away from the river's edge.

Recording an accidental-death verdict, Coroner Roger Whittaker said it seemed likely that Mr Martin had become exhausted and decided to turn around and go home. Because of his physical condition, he had to go further than a normal person to turn round and had slipped into the river.

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