FRIENDS of a 29-year-old man who drowned skinny-dipping at Oxford’s Tumbling Bay were too “mashed” on Ketamine to help him, an inquest heard.

Graffiti artist Dan Lewis, of Templars Close, Wheatley, had snorted the drug on Wednesday, June 2, before stripping off his clothes and jumping into the river bathing spot behind West Oxford Community Centre, Botley Road, Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner was told yesterday.

When he shouted for help, his friends thought he was joking and were too high on the drug to then save him.

Mr Lewis, who also used the name Halfcut Art, had gone to the river at 5pm with friends Alan ‘Ted’ Bedborough, Max Wilk and Eleanor Cooke. He went swimming in 1.5-metre-deep water an hour later, after snorting a line of the horse tranquilliser ketamine, Mr Bedborough said.

Friends told the inquest he started shouting for help within 15 minutes.

But Mr Bedborough, of Bookbinders Court, St Thomas Street, Oxford, told the court he did not know what was happening because he was in a ‘K-Hole’, a state of disassociation caused by the drug.

He said: “At the time, I thought he was faking, like the boy who cried wolf.

“(When I realised) things had taken a more sinister turn, I panicked. I lost all sense of rationale.

“By the time I came to, I had realised that nothing was going to change now. Dan was under water and there was nothing I could do. It was over. It was shock and pandemonium.”

He added: “I was not compos mentis. I was pretty mashed.

“I did not know what state Dan was in, because I was not in a state to be able to tell.

“I did not see him go under water. It took until I had come out of the K-Hole and he had been under water for quite a long time that I acknowledged he was under water.”

Mr Wilk, of Divinity Road, East Oxford, added: “He shouted out the first time, and we didn’t know if he was joking or not.

“Is he actually messing around or is he in trouble? I rang 999 and asked for all the services.

“I didn’t know who to call, the lifeguard or whatever.”

The inquest heard it was two hours before fire crews and police divers pulled Mr Lewis’ body from the water.

Toxicology tests found traces of alcohol and 2.3 milligrams of ketamine per litre of blood.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Gardiner said the drug could have caused partial paralysis, affecting Mr Lewis’ ability to swim.

He said: “After taking this dose of ketamine, if you place yourself in a watery setting, that is a very dangerous thing to do. He shouted for help, no help was forthcoming.”

He was told Oxford City Council kept no lifebelts there because it was not on a riverside footpath.