A WAR veteran's specially-built shoes may have inadvertently led to his death, an inquest was told yesterday.

Lawrence Holliday, 81, went for brisk walks every day by the River Tees in flat shoes designed to aid his shattered left leg.

But the smooth soles may have led him to slip into icy waters and drown, said a coroner.

An angler spotted his body floating face down at Stockton, near the Princess Diana Bridge.

Mr Holliday loved to walk there to watch the construction of the Millennium Bridge, the Middlesbrough inquest was told.

Pathologist Dr Peter Cooper said Mr Holliday he had probably stumbled.

Gordon Hetherington, the deputy coroner for Central Teesside, said Mr Holliday's special shoes might not have had sufficient grip.

He said: "Sadly, on the balance of probabilities, I am bound to conclude that for some reason he lost his footing, slipped and fell into the river and, because of his age or the temperature of the water, he drowned."

He recorded a verdict of accidental death on Mr Holliday of Laneside Road, Hartburn, on January 19