Hours after the concerned family of a St Albans man reported him missing to police, his weighted-down body was discovered in a pond at a local park, an inquest has heard.

Nozrul Islam, 22, of Nelson Avenue, died on July 2 this year in a pond off Nightingale Lane at Highfield Park.

Herts Coroner Geoffrey Sullivan determined that the former University of Hertfordshire student’s death was caused by drowning.

Passing on his condolences to Mr Islam’s friends and family at the Coroner’s Court on Tuesday (22), Mr Sullivan concluded that the young man had died as a result of suicide.

Details of a tragic note left for family confirming his intention, apologising and telling them where to find him, were revealed at the inquest.

Mr Sullivan said: “I’m sure he did do this act voluntarily, based on that note, with the intention - sadly - leading to the end of his life.”

DC Stuart Alexander told the inquest that police were first contacted with a 999 call by the family at about 9.30pm on Friday July 1.

Mr Islam’s worried mother said that her son had, unusually, not come home after work as normal, at about 5pm, and she had been unable to contact him by phone.

Less than two hours later, the family again called the police, saying they were “very concerned”, as it was out of character for Mr Islam, who had been fasting during Ramadan, to fail to phone home if he was going to return late.

He was registered as a missing person at around midnight.

It was during an initial visit by a constable to the family home in Nelson Avenue at about 3am on July 2 that Mr Islam’s note to his family was discovered, during a search of his laptop in his room.

Officers went to the park where, using a torch, they found a ‘small object’ in the middle of the water. Firefighters, who arrived at about 3.45am, helped to recover the man’s fully-clothed body.

Pathologist Dr Scott, at Hemel Hempstead General Hospital, said a full toxicology report had returned a ‘negative result’, and showed nothing of any relevance. He said the cause of death was drowning.

A police inquiry revealed that although Mr Islam’s family thought he had left the house each day for his job at a market research firm in St Albans, he had not actually worked there since early 2014.

While investigations of his laptop showed that he had searched for information on payday loans in the weeks before his death, there was “nothing to suggest another party’s involvement”, the inquest heard.

Mr Sullivan told the court that there did not appear to have been any debt or financial problems and despite not working at the local market research firm for two years, “he maintained a daily routine ... there was nothing to suggest anything suspicious about his death, or any third party involvement. I have heard evidence suggesting that Mr Islam voluntarily entered that pond in Highfield Park.”

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