The man whose body was found in Aberystwyth Harbour died of heart disease before falling into the water, an inquest heard.

On 20 June at 11.41am two men from Natural Resources Wales were surveying the harbour when they saw a shape in the water.

They spotted a body, face down, clothed with a red backpack on.

One ran to call the police whilst the other stayed with the body which the RNLI retrieved - finding a white bearded male with a black hooded jacket, a bumbag, green Crocs sandals, shoulder-length hair and a large cut on his nose.

The body was that of Carol Kovacs, a lovable man and Romanian national who had ended up in Aberystwyth, finding himself out of work and out of a home - becoming the subject of a Cambrian News special report on homelessness.

Carol, 59, was a keen fisherman who had become known to a fishing tackle shop and the homeless community that camped near him on Tanybwlch beach.

He struggled with drinking, and an inquest into his death surmised that this may have contributed to him being found dead in the water that fateful summer day.

On 9 October the inquest into his death resumed at Aberystwyth Crown Court.

The post-mortem revealed that Kovacs had no water in his lungs and “no evidence of drowning”.

Instead, a “cardiovascular incident”, specifically hypertensive heart disease causing hypoxia and fatal arrhythmia, was determined as the cause of death.

This meant Kovacs must have fallen into the water after he had passed away.

He was known to fish in the harbour and had interacted with police nearby at 11pm the previous night.

A member of the public had called the police after witnessing an altercation between two drunk males - according to Kovacs, the other man was trying to help him up, who was struggling due to being drunk.

This was the last known interaction with Kovacs before he died.

The post-mortem revealed a “significant amount of ethanol” in his system, 362mg per 2ml, with the toxicologist noting that levels over 300mg are associated with fatalities, and levels exceeding 400mg could cause death.

There were only four people in the room - the Coroner Peter Brunton, PC Dimolarev who gave evidence, a clerk and a Cambrian News reporter.

His only known family is that of a sister and niece who didn’t attend but would be notified of the inquest result of death by natural causes.