A DRIFTER who drowned in Castle Mill Stream was shown kindness in his last weeks by an Oxford boat owner.

Homeless man Dennis Sheridan, 60, wandered into the city in April this year after walking along tow paths from Lancashire.

An inquest into his death at Oxford Coroner's Court yesterday heard the first person he met when he reached Castle Mill Stream in Jericho was boat owner Ed Surridge, who offered him a place to stay on a tented raft he owned nearby.

In a statement read out at the hearing, Mr Surridge said he also introduced Mr Sheridan to the Gatehouse homeless centre, helped him make a benefits claim and even cooked breakfast for him most mornings for the next three weeks.

Mr Surridge said: "Dennis told me he had a hard upbringing in Birmingham.

"He said he received his benefits and was going to buy me a bottle of wine to say 'thank you'".

The last time Mr Surridge saw Mr Sheridan was on the day he died, Wednesday, May 11.

Mr Sheridan was aboard his raft and told his new friend he was going to stay there because he was drunk.

Minutes later passers-by heard a splash as Mr Sheridan fell in the river.

Jericho resident Keira Pratt-Boyden called 999 and firefighters spent an hour searching before they found Mr Sheridan's body.

He was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington but doctors were unable to revive him.

Oxfordshire coroner Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp gave a conclusion of accidental death.