An inquest into the death of a 37-year-old man who died in a scuba diving incident while on a tour of Australia with an award winning singer-songwriter has opened.

Karl Bareham, originally from Suffolk, had been on a scuba diving trip off the coast of New South Wales on in Australia September 24, 2019 when he got into difficulty and sadly died.

An inquest into his death opened at Suffolk Coroner’s Court in Ipswich on Friday, March 20.

The court heard that Australian authorities have seized the diving equipment used by Mr Bareham at the time of his death and an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident is ongoing.

His body has since been repatriated.

Senior coroner Nigel Parsley passed on his condolences to the friends and family of Mr Bareham before opening and adjourning the inquest until July 23, 2020.

It is understood that Mr Bareham, known to his friends as ‘Horse’, was born in Bury St Edmunds before moving to Toronto, Canada to work with City and Colour, the recording name of singer-songwriter Dallas Green.

He is understood to have produced a number of Dallas Green’s albums and sound engineered his shows.

At the time of his death the 37-year-old was in Australia with City and Colour as they prepared to play the Brisbane Festival at the end of September.

A post of City and Colour’s social media at the time of Mr Bareham’s death said: “Our lives are forever changed.

“Three days ago we lost our dear friend and brother Karl Bareham to a tragic accident.

“He was so loved and such an important part of this family - my compatriot for 16 years, next to me in the studio and on the road.

“After a difficult few days we made the decision to continue on with the shows. he would want us to be together during this terrible time. We’ll carry on in celebration of our beautiful friend. We love you horse.”