A BARROW dad drowned after jumping the equivalent height of the Devonshire Dock Hall, an inquest heard.

Much-loved son, brother and friend Chris Maitland, who was known by his childhood nickname Fudd, had been drinking with work colleagues at Hodge Close Quarry near Coniston on the afternoon of July 10 of this year.

The 30-year-old, described by his family as a livewire and a daredevil, had been swimming in the flooded disused quarry and decided he would jump from the cliff-edge.

Pointing to the top, Mr Maitland vowed: "That's what I'm jumping off."

His friend Marcus Brizio filmed the leap on his mobile phone but quickly realised something was wrong when Mr Maitland failed to surface.

Some of the group bravely jumped into the water to try and pull him out but they were unable to find his body.

It was almost four hours later before a specialist police diver managed to find Mr Maitland 15 metres below the surface.

He was found lying on his side between a number of underwater boulders.

Mr Brizio, who worked with Mr Maitland at Haven near Flookburgh, said the group had been jumping off lower rocks but Mr Maitland declared they "weren't high enough".

He climbed up to the top of the quarry and jumped the 50 metres into the water.

"After a few seconds he didn't surface, I realised something had gone wrong," Mr Brizio said in a statement.

After police arrived Mr Brizio showed them the footage on his phone and officers decided to call the North West Police Underwater Search Unit.

Mr Brizio later said he deleted the clip immediately after sending it to the police because he "didn't want to ever see it again".

Coroner Kirsty Gomersal declined to play the footage during the inquest out of respect to Mr Maitland's family.

Police diver Gareth Ollie arrived at the quarry at 9pm, more than three hours since Mr Maitland had leapt into the quarry, and used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to scour the water.

"At a depth of 9.6 metres I observed the body of a male lying on the sloped edge of the quarry resting on a number of large boulders," PC Ollie said in a statement read out during the inquest yesterday.

PC Ollie used the ROV to try and pull Mr Maitland but he lost his grip and the body fell to 15.4 metres.

A diver was then sent in to recover the body and members of Coniston Mountain Rescue Team helped to carry Mr Maitland.

Post mortem tests revealed he was three times the drink drive alcohol limit, had suffered a lacerated liver and died from immersion in water. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.