The death earlier this year of Max Spiers, a British Ufologist, has continued to prompt intense speculation among conspiracy theorists, as an inquest in Kent this week heard he "vomited two litres of black fluid" shortly before he died.

Spiers, 39, originally from Canterbury, was found dead at an friend's apartment in Warsaw in July.

Local authorities initially stated he had died from natural causes – but his mother Vanessa Bates approached the media to express doubts over the verdict.

As an inquest into Mr Spiers' death opened in Canterbury last Monday, Mrs Bates told reporters: “It’s been a long time coming, but I’m just relieved that at last something is happening and there is a proper investigation and inquest."

In a statement, coroner’s investigations officer Caroline O’Donnell told the inquest: “Mr Spiers became ill with a high temperature and was weak."