A high-flying lecturer, who previously worked for sporting giant Adidas, died in Spain after falling face-first into a stream, a court has heard.

An inquest into the death of Tom Snow, held at Norfolk Coroner’s Court in Norwich, heard how he suffered from a medical condition.

The 44-year-old, who grew up in Banham, near Diss, was first diagnosed with an over-active thyroid in 2021.

Evidence read out revealed that his condition could cause cardiac symptoms as well as a range of psychiatric problems.

The court heard how Mr Snow, who lived in the Basque Country on the boarder of France and Spain, had been due to return to England to visit family and friends.

Prior to his visit, he met with friends at a bar on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, and is believed to have died later that evening at around 8pm.

The following day, on Thursday, July 14, Mr Snow’s body was discovered by a passer-by in Bizkaia, Spain.

Postmortems carried out in Spain and England confirmed the medical cause of death as drowning.

The examinations also revealed superficial injuries to his face and chest consistent with falling into a stream.

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The inquest was led by the senior coroner for Norfolk, Jacqueline Lake.

Recording a short narrative conclusion, she said: “Tom Snow’s body was found face down in a shallow stream.

"The evidence does not reveal how he came to be there.”

His older sister, Beth Wright, paid tribute to her brother in a statement read out to the court.

She said: “Tom was a true academic in his later years, and after university and a first honours degree in industrial design and a stint at [a Norwich] art college, he got offered a job in Germany with Adidas in their design team.

“Eight years ago, he decided to go self-employed at set up his own company where he worked on sustainable and ethical design projects all over the world.

“During this time, he also lectured at universities in France, England and the Netherlands.”