A MOONLIGHT skinny dip ended in tragedy when a 33-year-old man drowned in the icy waters of a remote moorland reservoir.

Mitchell Lee Bury disappeared without a sound as he and two friends swam the 250 yards across Wayoh Reservoir, Entwistle, near Bolton, an inquest was told.

Mr Bury of Nuttall Street, Blackburn, had met up with five friends at the end of a night out in Blackburn in July. They had gone looking for a party at Pickup Bank and then decided to stay up to watch the sun rise.

The friends had driven to Wayoh Reservoir where they sat on a sandy part of the bank drinking beer and talking.

A post mortem examination gave the medical cause of death as drowning and revealed an alcohol level over double the legal drink drive limit.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Michael Singleton said it had been a tragic and unnecessary loss of a young life.