The circumstances surrounding the death of a former detective chief inspector are unknown, a court has heard.

Robert Kennett, who was born in Kent on December 22, 1957, was found having drowned in Brundall Bay Marina on May 10 this year. He was 66 years old.

An inquest held at Norfolk Coroner's Court heard that Mr Kennett had purchased a houseboat and was moored up at the nearby Brundall Gardens Marina.

Police were dispatched at around 6pm to Brundall Bay Marina after reports of a body floating in the river between Brundall and Brundall Gardens.

A police statement added Mr Kennett's body was found "face down in the river and been pulled in by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Services".

His body was identified by Peter Reeve, the manager of Marine Power, and was declared dead at the scene. 

A postmortem said Mr Kennett's "presumed fall" into the water wasn't witnessed but gave the medical cause of death as "drowning, hypotensive heart disease, alcohol intoxication and type two diabetes mellitus".

It added he "may have died from drowning due to tripping or slipping into the water or possibly as a result of hypertensive heart disease causing fatal cardiac dysrhythmia".

Area coroner Samantha Goward concluded that Mr Kennett's death was "an accident".

She added: "There's no evidence of any deliberate intent to harm himself.

"However it's not clear is whether he had a medical event causing him to fall, whether he may have been intoxicated, or a combination of the two."

Wendy Kennett, Mr Kennett's wife of 45 years, said: "He had been enjoying his retirement and he loved being surrounded by nature and I visited him there on holidays.

"I talked to him on the phone on the same day as the tragic circumstances and at no point did I notice anything out of character that would have concerned me about his wellbeing."