Winchester Coroners’ Court inquest: Body of Karl Golden found in River Blackwater, near Testwood Lakes, Totton

A “HARD-working and proud father” was found face-down in a New Forest river by his dad, an inquest has heard.

Brett Golden told the hearing at Winchester Coroner’s Court how he struggled to get son Karl (37) out of the River Blackwater, saying: “I just went into the river and scooped Karl up.”

Although he realised Karl, who had been missing for three days, was already dead, he stayed in the river holding him for around 15 minutes.

At that point his other son Dean arrived and, together with police officers, managed to get Karl to the bank.

Described as a “proud father”, “hard worker” and “fun loving”, Karl had been last seen leaving the family home in Totton on 6th June last year.

Calls to his mobile phone had gone unanswered, and his parents had gone to the Testwood Lakes area – where Karl was known to frequent – to search for him on the morning of 9th June.

They did not find him, but later a friend of Karl’s, Barry Stone, told his family he believed Karl had gone to a “beautiful spot” there where he liked to go to “clear his head”.

Karl’s father returned to the river with Mr Stone that evening and it was then his body was found.

Winchester Coroners’ Court heard Karl had, in the months leading up to his death, managed to kick a 10-year cocaine habit.

He had told his doctor at the end of January how he had overdosed on the drug and had blacked out for four hours, coming to with injuries he could not explain.

His aunt Beverley Golden told the inquest that “it was no secret in family circles that he was addicted to cocaine”.

Describing her nephew as an “absolutely lovely person”, she added: “He would go on a bender at weekends and disappear out of the house.”

After his scare at the start of 2024 he had given up the drug and his family said he had been “doing really well”.

But about three weeks before his death he had gone missing, and his father had found him at the Testwood Lake area.

Mr Golden said Karl appeared to be “under the influence” of cocaine. But there had been no signs of him taking it afterwards.

However, in a statement Mr Stone told how Karl had “struggled” with his drug use, saying that “something would click in his head” and he would go out to get cocaine.

In an effort to stop, he would spend some evenings and weekends at Mr Stone’s house to “stop him from using”.

But in the days leading up to his death Karl, with whom he shared a love of motorcycling, “had not been himself”.

He had not visited Mr Stone’s home and stopped responding to messages.

A post-mortem revealed Karl had not drowned and instead had had a “cardiac death” caused by a lethal dose of cocaine.

Tests showed he had 1.7mg of the drug per litre of blood. There was no evidence of third-party involvement.

Coroner Nicholas Walker said Karl was probably already dead by the time he collapsed into the river.

Ruling Karl’s death as drug-related, Mr Walker told his family: “My heart goes out to you.”

• If you need help with a drug problem, call 0300 1236600 or visit talktofrank.com