THE often tragic life of a grandfather whose body was found in the River Tees four months after he vanished was revealed at his inquest yesterday.

Teesside coroner Clare Bailey heard that much-loved David Welsh had endured much heartache with the death of a new-born baby daughter, an adult daughter killed in a road accident and the murder of his brother.

Mr Welsh, of Stockton, was also grieving the loss of his beloved wife, Sheila, was in the process of breaking up with a new partner and had recently left his job after a dispute at work.

However, there was no evidence that he intended to take his own life and the coroner came to a ‘narrative’ conclusion, which records the known facts.

The inquest heard he went missing on December 8 last year and he was last seen drinking vodka in pubs in Stockton, despite normally being a moderate drinker who never touched spirits.

There were many appeals and searches for him but his body was eventually found by rower Beth Bryan early in the morning on Wednesday, April 6.

The Middlesbrough inquest heard Ms Bryan screamed when what she thought was a bin bag or debris turned out to be a body. The wedding ring belonging to his dead wife was found on Mr Welsh's body.

Earlier it emerged that on the night of his disappearance he had told his partner, Kath Date, that the relationship “was not working and we’ll have to split up,” despite the couple only living together for two weeks and Mr Welsh moving out of the family home he had shared with his wife.

The inquest also heard that his baby daughter, Hazel, died aged just four days in 1976, his 25-year-old daughter, Aimee, was killed after being hit by a speeding police van in 2008 and his wife, Sheila, died after a struggle against cancer in 2013.

The coroner was also told that his brother, John, was murdered in Ghana in 2004 and his beloved uncle, who he was very close to, had recently died. He had left his job after failing to secure a permanent position and he had never fully recovered from the death of his parents in close succession in 2004 and 2005.

Many tributes were paid to Mr Welsh, a pipe fitter who was a grandfather-of-seven, during the inquest. His daughter, Tracy Robinson, said: “My father was a very loving and caring man who loved his family.” Shortly before his death, he told her “no-one will ever compare to your mum.”

His other surviving daughter, Lyndsey Cattermole, said her dad was a “loving man,” and she believed he “loved everyone but was struggling to cope with the amount of heartache.”

The final person to speak to Mr Welsh was old friend, Brian Butler, who bumped into him at the Five Alls pub in Bishopsgarth, Stockton. Mr Welsh said: “I’ve never seen Dave look so down and dejected, even during all he’d been through.”