A successful businessman with a passion for dangerous sports fell 15 feet to his death from a balcony after a heavy night's drinking, an inquest has heard.

Peter Matthews, a separated father of four young sons, was found under the balcony of a house in Annapolis in Maryland, USA, where he was staying on a business trip.

The "fearless" 41-year-old company director had travelled to America with his girlfriend, Monique Mahoney, to visit a boat show. He was said to have been drinking heavily during a night out.

Evidence read to the court by coroner Dr Peter Dean, revealed Mr Matthews returned to the house with Ms Mahoney, shortly after 2am on October 6 last year.

Ms Mahoney was said to have retired to bed, leaving Mr Matthews on his own. When she awoke in the morning she assumed Mr Matthews had left early to visit the boat show where he hoped to sell his boat.

Friends at the show did not worry when he didn't appear, because the weather was bad, the inquest was told.

The inquest heard Ms Mahoney did not learn of her partner's death until she left the house at 5.40pm and saw police in an alley beside the building.

American pathologists found between 140 and 200 mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his body. The UK legal driving limit is 80mg.

The inquest was told the US authorities had found nothing to suggest any suspicious circumstances and had concluded he had been sitting on the balcony and fallen onto a rough, concrete path 15 feet below, sustaining multiple injuries.

In a moving tribute to his son, Norman Matthews, told the inquest his son was "not a drunkard" but he was a "dangerous sports fanatic who didn't know fear. He often sat on balconies."

The inquest heard Mr Matthews, who once lived in both Leigh and Hadleigh before moving to Creeksea, near Burnham, had an enviable lifestyle cut short in tragic circumstances.

The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death.

Published Monday January 14, 2002