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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Steven Morris

Guardian prison columnist Erwin James drowned in Devon marina, inquest finds

Erwin James in lilac shirt and beige jacket
The area coroner concluded James’s death at the age of 66 was accidental and was contributed to by alcohol intoxication. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

A journalist and author who wrote much-admired columns from prison drowned in a Devon marina after spending an evening in a harbourside pub, an inquest has concluded.

Erwin James Monahan, who used the pen name Erwin James and wrote a regular column for the Guardian – the first of its kind in British journalism – fell into the sea at Brixham in Devon, close to where the boat he was staying in was moored, the inquest in Exeter heard.

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