Christmas joy turned to tragedy after the body of a man was pulled out of the Kennet & Avon Canal at Avoncliff on Christmas Eve.

The man, thought to have been aged between 50 and 65, had been drinking in the Cross Guns pub the previous evening.

Police were alerted at about 8am by a local resident on his way to work who saw the body floating face down in the water the second fatality in that section of the canal in two months.

PC Martin Annetts said: "We also pulled out a bag we believe belonged to the man but there was nothing in it to identify him."

Police have since identified the body but will not name him until his family have been informed. He is believed to be from Bath.

Cross Guns bar manager Brett Smith was the last person to see the man alive.

"He came in, sat by the fire to get warm and drank a pint and a bottle of Newcastle Brown ale before leaving at about 8.30pm," he said.

"He wanted to know the way back to Bath and I told him to get a taxi."

Bar staff think the man may have been an ex-army engineer and described him as well-turned out.

Landlord Ken Roberts said: "He was certainly well dressed and wore a camel coat. That is how we were able to identify him but we hadn't seen him in here before.

"He had a Scottish accent and I'm fairly sure he was not a narrowboat dweller or a tramp."

The death in the canal is the second in as many months.

Narrowboat dweller Francis Bernard Feltham, who was in his early 60s, lived on the Dilly Dally houseboat. He fell into the canal in October on his way back from the Cross Guns.

Mr Roberts is now pushing for a safety railing and better lighting around the towpath.

"Someone fell in the canal in April and now we have seen the second fatality this year," he said.

"We have been working with British Waterways and Wiltshire County Council to get something done about it."