A cabin crew member found dead on a Kent beach felt "bullied" by his airline to return to work after being off injured, an inquest heard.

Andrew Barnes, from Hythe, was left in pain after a horrific landing and needed physiotherapy.

But the 46-year-old felt British Airways pressurised him to get back to work and he felt agitated, the hearing was told.

On April 11 this year, the day after he missed a meeting with his employers, Mr Barnes was found dead on the beach off Hythe's Princes Parade.

He died primarily from an artery blockage, a coroner heard at Folkestone Magistrates' Court.

His partner, Geoff Hutton, told the hearing: "He was very conscientious of being a good employee for British Airways but felt treated badly, almost bullied into going back to work.

"He was very stressed because he was very conscientious about his job, but felt they used unnecessary force to get him back."

Mr Barnes, of St Leonard's Road, had suffered whiplash and was left with back and neck pain after his plane had a heavy landing in Madrid on March 12.

Mr Hutton said: "He received no real medical care from the airline from the time he arrive back.

"British Airways' health services contacted with the intent of him getting back to work as soon as possible. But he was signed off by his GP."

Mr Barnes needed painkillers and a doctor who saw him believed he had post-traumatic stress disorder.

The inquest heard Mr Barnes was drinking more than usual, most unusually during the day.

A post-mortem examination found his body had 158mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, twice the drink-drive limit of 80mg.

Mr Barnes went for a swim on the afternoon of April 11. Witnesses had seen him in the water for as long as 40 minutes, but he did not appear to be in difficulty, the inquest heard.

Police were called to the beach at just before 3.45pm, when his body was found washed up.

A post-mortem found Mr Barnes had died above all from a pulmonary embolism - a blockage in the artery that takes blood to the lungs - due to deep vein thrombosis that had developed over the previous three to eight days.

Contributory factors were immersion in the water and intoxication.

Rachel Redman, Central and South East Kent coroner, ruled out suicide but said she was puzzled as to why Mr Barnes would swim in the Channel in April.

The inquest heard the sea water at that time of year would have been too cold to endure for long.

Pathologist Dr Miklos Perenyei said there were no specific signs of hypothermia, but the alcohol would have clouded Mr Barnes' judgement and numbed his feeling of cold.

Recording a narrative conclusion, Mrs Redman summed up Mr Barnes' injury at work, his suffering anxiety and inability to return to work.

She said he died from the embolism, thrombosis and immersion in water.

Mr Barnes and Mr Hutton had known each other for 15 years. They were not civil partners, but were waiting for the law allowing same-sex marriage to come through to get married.

The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 came into force last March 13, the day after Mr Barnes' accident.

A British Airways spokesman said: "We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of Andrew Barnes.

"We have a comprehensive network of support in place for all of our employees, which is available 24 hours a day, anywhere in the world.

"We would never ask any individual who has been off work to return until they felt they were ready."