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It will likely never be known how a superfan dubbed 'Mr Wigan Athletic' found dead in a canal ended up in the water, an inquest has heard. Popular and much-loved Latics fan Darren Orme, 54, vanished on the evening of Wednesday, March 5 this year, sparking a massive search operation and public appeals for information, including from the club's manager. His body was tragically discovered at Lock 88 of the Leeds and Liverpool canal almost three weeks later, on Monday, March 24. An inquest into his death was this afternoon (Wednesday, October 22) concluded at Bolton Coroners' Court. A coroner concluded there was 'nothing to suggest' Darren took his own life but that there was 'insufficient evidence' to shed any further light on what happened. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE The hearing was told youth football coach Darren had been a Latics season-ticket holder since he was four years-old, went to 'every game he could get to' and was also 'heavily involved' with the club itself. His sister Alison Simm said he was a 'cheeky, funny and somewhat introverted character' apart from at Latics matches, where he became an 'extrovert and larger than life character'. He 'displayed tendencies of autism' but was never formally diagnosed, the court was told. Darren didn't have a smartphone and never used the internet. The hearing was told that in the weeks before he died, factory operative Darren had been made redundant from job he had held for 21 years at the Bakkavor factory in Ince-in-Makerfield, Wigan. He then secured a new job but was let go from there after just three weeks. This led him to become 'worried about paying the bills', the hearing was told. Mrs Simm said he in fact had enough money from his redundancy to 'live for a year fairly comfortably' but he 'just couldn't comprehend' what the family were telling him. "He just wasn't taking anything in. It was as if he had some kind of breakdown," she said. "He just lost it." The day he disappeared, March 5, Mrs Simm she said she went round to his home and spent several hours going through things with him and that he was in an 'agitated state'. "I showed him he was in credit with everything, but he just couldn't comprehend what we were saying," she said. Darren's brother-in-law, Steven Simm, said the information was 'just bouncing off him'. After losing his job, Darren visited Wigan job centre but was told a claim for jobseeker's allowance couldn't be made at the centre, and would have to be made online, or alternatively over the phone by a call handler who would complete the application for him, the court was told. Darren made a claim over the phone for New Style Jobseeker's Allowance (NSJSA) and later then also made a claim for Universal Credit. His NSJSA claim was successfully logged, but his Universal Credit claim had to be put 'on hold' as Darren was unaware what proportion of his rent was service charges, the hearing was told. Mr Pollard said transcripts of the calls showed it was 'obvious he was having problems communicating' and there was 'clearly a failure by him to understand what on earth was going on'. The coroner said it seemed there was a 'failure in the system' and that he didn't understand why there couldn't be 'someone sat on the other side of a desk' to help people, like Darren, complete their applications. Darren Searson, Universal Credit Service Leader, said it was a 'resource issue'. He agreed with Matthew Hill, representing the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), that having Job Centre staff complete applications would have a 'very significant resource consequences' across the country and that it 'would be for politicians to decide if it was a good use of public money'. Mr Searson said Darren would have been asked at his first formal interview at the Job Centre if he needed any additional support. Mrs Simm asked why that couldn't have been done at the start of the process. "I'm not blaming anyone for what happened to Darren," she said. "It's not a personal dig at the DWP, it is a system, process issue." Mr Pollard said the system was 'not perhaps quite as smooth as it might be' and that 'at the very start of the process' there 'should be some investigation to ascertain whether the caller needs any additional help'. Both Mr Searson and Mr Hill agreed to relay this back to the DWP. Detective Inspector Pat Wood, from Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said CCTV and doorbell footage showed Darren 'travelling towards the water area', but that footage 'ran out at a certain point' and they were unable to ascertain what happened after. He said underwater search teams, the police helicopter, drones and a significant number of 'boots on the ground' from the public were all involved in the search operation. He said Darren had 'no physical injuries other than what may have occurred in the water'. A post-mortem found Darren's cause of death was drowning. Assistant coroner John Pollard said Darren was evidently a 'dear chap to his family but also a wider environment'. He said losing his term-job, which he 'obviously loved' must have come as a 'horrendous shock' and that it will have been compounded by losing his new role as well three weeks later. "Talk about kicking someone when they're down," Mr Pollard added. "That must have been the ultimate for him." The coroner said there was no evidence Darren was suffering with mental ill health. He said despite his issues dealing with his benefit claims, he was 'getting there in the end' and that 'I think it would have worked out'. Mr Pollard said he 'could see why that would begin to worry him' and that he had no doubt he was 'fed up. But he said there was 'no conclusive evidence of an intent to self-harm'. "He's obviously gone out wandering off near this canal, but I have no evidence that he was feeling so bad he wanted to harm himself or take his own life," Mr Pollard said. "There's nothing to suggest that." Mr Pollard said he had 'half a brick in his pocket which or may not be suggestive of half a try' but that it was 'not sufficient for [him] to base a conclusion on'. He said the police had carried out a 'thorough' investigation, but had 'found nothing to help [him]'. Mr Pollard said there was 'insufficient evidence and there will always be insufficient evidence' to say with any confidence what had happened, as he recorded an open conclusion. While Darren was missing, Wigan manager Ryan Lowe held up his missing poster and issued an appeal for information at one of his pre-match press conferences. Following Darren's tragic death, the club's players and staff formed a guard of honour as his funeral cortège visited the Brick Community Stadium.
