Sheffield student had been drinking on the night he died, a court hears

Sheffield Coroners' Court heard that 19-year-old Alex Wilson, of Norwood Drive, had been out on the night of Saturday, July 29, but went home earlier than the rest of his group.

Mr Wilson's uncle, Michael Leighton, had put the Sheffield Hallam student in a taxi in the early hours of Sunday morning - but Alex got out just minutes later, while still in the city centre.

"According to the taxi driver, Alex asked to be let out on Arundel gate," said Detective Sergeant Mark Cockayne of South Yorkshire Police.

"The driver said he asked him if he was sure, then shook him by the hand and drove off."

From then, DS Cockayne said that his team had been able to piece together Alex's last movements using CCTV records.

The detective said that in the footage, Alex gives the clear impression of being severely intoxicated.

A post mortem analysis of Mr Wilson's blood found that he was more than twice the legal drink drive limit when he died.

Mr Christopher Dorries, senior coroner for South Yorkshire West, said this was a significant but 'not massive' amount of alcohol.

He added that it was likely that Mr Wilson had probably stopped drinking some time before he died.

The last CCTV image of Alex showed him walking past the Lloyds building on Furnival Road, less than 200 yards from the canal basin.

His body was found four days later by a specialist police diving team.

The taxi driver who dropped Alex off on Arundel Gate - Ishmael Karim - did not attend the hearing despite being asked to do so.

After consulting with Alex's family, the coroner agreed to issue a summons for the taxi driver to attend a second hearing on Wednesday, January 24.

He added that if Mr Ishmael did not respond to the summons, a warrant would be issued for his arrest.

It also emerged in court that South Yorkshire Police lost a tablet computer and laptop belonging to Mr Wilson in the course of their investigation.

DS Cockayne said the loss was 'terribly embarrassing' for the force and vowed he would do everything he could to locate the missing items.