A BACKPACKER who had only just learned to swim has drowned after getting into difficulty in a river in Cambodia.

Steven Griffiths, aged 21, was looking forward to returning home soon to see his pregnant sister and the rest of his family in Cotford St Luke when tragedy struck.

Instead they were due to identify his body yesterday after he was repatriated on Tuesday evening.

Steven's mother, Nicole Cording, said her son, who had been working as a cook at Coco Boutique, on Kohrong Island, had been for his daily swim in the River Kampot in an inflatable ring last Wednesday.

"He got into difficulty and was waving for help, but then he went under and wasn't seen until his body washed up the next day," said Mrs Cording.

"He wasn't a strong swimmer and had only learned to swim since he'd been in Cambodia."

Steven was brought up in Cotford, where he attended the village primary school before going to Kingsmead School, Wiveliscombe, and briefly Richard Huish College, Taunton.

He worked for a time at the Skylark pub and restaurant, in Wellington, and in the pathology lab at Musgrove Park Hospital, before moving to Weston-super-Mare, where he was a cook at the Imperial pub.

Mrs Cording said her son was a "free spirit" who achieved his dream of travelling when he flew out to Cambodia in January.

She added: "He didn't want to conform to society where you have to work to go on holiday - he wanted to travel and earn.

"He'd been saving up to come home in a few weeks and was planning on working here for a year before travelling around Europe.

"He didn't like to be grounded. He was a free spirit."

Mrs Cording's husband, Neil, said: "Steven was quirky, funny with a brilliant sense of humour, caring and intelligent.

"He'd have different groups of friends and spent a lot of time partying."

Steven's sister, Elesha, 19, who is expecting, learned of his death when a police officer called at the family house with the sad news.

She said: "I just started crying. It didn't feel real."

She wrote on Facebook: "It's such an honour to have called him my brother.

"He's the funniest, smartest, most wonderful human being I've ever had the pleasure of being around."

Steven's family face a bill of almost £8,000 for repatriating his body - a gofundme page set up by friends has already raised more than £3,500.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We are offering assistance to the family of a British man who has died in Cambodia, and are in contact with the Cambodian authorities."

Steven's funeral has been provisionally booked for Taunton Deane Crematorium on Friday, July 28, with the arrangements by Taunton Funeral Service, where he once did work experience.

His family are holding a party afterwards in The Chapel pub in Cotford St Luke.