AN inquest has opened into the death of a University of Essex student who was found following a month-long search by police.

Film and media student Charley Gadd was found by officers in Manchester’s River Irwell on January 10 after a frantic police investigation.

A post mortem examination at the opening of the student’s inquest at South Manchester Coroner’s Court has recorded an initial cause of death of presumed drowning ahead of further investigations.

Following the hearing, area coroner Chris Morris set a provisional inquest date for June 30.

Greater Manchester Police had been searching for Mr Gadd since the 20-year-old from Colchester disappeared on December 11 following a night out at the Warehouse Project in Manchester.

Having been last seen near a Spar store in St Mary’s Gate, the student’s parents say he “ran off” at about 1.10am as they then desperately spent hours trying to find him.

Mr Gadd’s last known movements were captured on CCTV outside the Royal Exchange Theatre, in Manchester’s retail district, just before 1.15am.

Police divers dressed in scuba outfits searched parts of the city’s canal network near the Lowry Hotel, in the Greengate area before Mr Gadd’s body was found.