Rory Cattermole: University of Exeter student drowned in stream

A university student drowned in a freezing stream after finding out he had failed his exams, an inquest heard.

Rory Cattermole, from Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire, went missing in cold and stormy conditions after a night out in Exeter on 13 February 2018.

His body was found face down in the water near the village of Longdown three days later using Snapchat Maps.

An inquest at Exeter's County Hall concluded the full circumstances of his death would remain a mystery.

Mr Cattermole was a first-year economics and finance student at the University of Exeter.

The 20-year-old had downed beer, wine and spirits the night before he vanished during a "particularly bad storm".

A friend told the inquest that they had both been "pretty drunk" that evening.

He was last seen at about 03:04 GMT "walking purposefully" away from his home after leaving a club in the city centre.

Mr Cattermole had been told "he had not done very well" in some of his exams the day before, but the inquest heard he was not "unduly disturbed by this".

Police and Dartmoor Search and Rescue teams used Snapchat Maps to pinpoint his location four miles from the city after his friends spotted him on the app and raised the alarm.

Forensic pathologist Dr Deborah Cook told the inquest that Mr Cattermole had developed hypothermia which may have caused him to become confused or collapse.

His father Douglas said his son was a "happy-go-lucky" young man who "brought everybody's spirits up".

Assistant coroner Deborah Archer concluded Mr Cattermole had suffered with hypothermia before he "drowned in a stream where the full circumstances of his death remain unknown".