A FAMILY has spoken of their sorrow after their former champion swimmer son died on Christmas Eve.

Barry McKenna, 22, was found dead at the home of his friend, Lee Holmes, in Hebburn, South Tyneside.

Mr McKenna had left the house at 11pm and returned at 3am. Mr Holmes found him dead two hours later.

His parents Sheila and David have paid tribute to their son and said they wanted to lay to rest rumours about how he died.

"People are saying that he died because he took drugs or that he had drunk too much, but the truth is, nobody knows," said Mrs McKenna, 48, of Hebburn.

"A few tests have been done, but nothing has shown up. Nobody can say he took an overdose."

As a teenager, Barry was a champion swimmer, but since leaving Hebburn Comprehensive School, he had been unable to hold down a regular job, and moved out of his parents' home last year.

He spent the next 12 months staying at friends' houses, but turned up at his parents' home five weeks ago and asked them to help get his life back to normal.

Mr McKenna, 51, said: "He looked terrible and weighed just 11 stone. He admitted he had started taking heroin, and had a string of convictions for petty crime.

"But we worked together, and after taking him to Turkey to get clean, his life was changing for the better."

Barry had been due to start a new job working on the oil rigs next week, and his ambition was to become a diver.

Mr and Mrs McKenna have two daughters, Kelly, 27, and Brooke, 14, and a son, Bradley, 12.