The court heard Gareth Jones was not a strong swimmer

Gareth Jones, from Llansannan, Conwy, died while swimming in the river near the Royal Welsh Show in July.

Coroner Geraint Williams said he would not go down the "nanny state road" and criticise Mr Jones and his friends for swimming in the river.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death and praised the "heroic" efforts of his friends to save him.

Mr Jones, who was not a strong swimmer, died on the second day of the Royal Welsh Show at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells on 25 July - one of the hottest days of the year.

He had been paddling at the side of a pool but was later seen struggling in about 20ft (6m) of water and then disappeared from sight.

His body was recovered by divers who had been manning a stand at the show.

I'm not going to go down the nanny state road... Make no bones about it, I would have been in there with them Coroner Geraint Williams

Efforts were made to revive the farm worker on the river bank, using resuscitation equipment brought from the showground medical centre.

Mr Jones' father Eric Jones told the court in Welshpool: "Since Gareth could walk he had been with me on the farm. We spent a massive amount of time together.

"In all that time I never considered Gareth to be a reckless or daring sort of person."

Responding to the comments, the coroner said: "There's no indication of any reckless behaviour at all. It's got to be one of the joys of being alive that you can have a swim in one of our rivers on one of the hottest days of the year.

"I'm not going to go down the nanny state road."

He added: "Make no bones about it, I would have been in there with them."

Gareth Jones was swimming in the river with friends

Four of Mr Jones' friends gave evidence at the inquest.

One of the group, Daniel Davies, said the 19-year-old could not swim very well. He told the court how he had tried to save him.

He said: "We were all trying to keep Gareth's head above water, but it was in a deep area. We all tried to save him and the next thing he went down."

Another friend, William Gareth Jones, told how he tried to lift Gareth out of the water but ran out of energy before he was able to do so.