AN INQUEST has been held into the tragic death of a woman whose body was pulled out of the River Dee three weeks after she went missing.
The body of Lucy Charles, of Millbrook Lane, Bangor-on-Dee, was discovered by the police's underwater search officers on January 12, around 2.5km from where personal items had been found on the riverbank.
At County Hall in Ruthin on Thursday (May 30), an inquest was held into the 39-year-old's death.
It heard that Ms Charles had been first reported missing on December 23, 2023 by her partner. Police enquiries discovered she was last seen walking along Station Road in Bangor-on-Dee at 5.35pm on December 22 when she was caught on CCTV near the Royal Oak public-house.
Extensive searches of the Bangor-on-Dee area, as well as the River Dee between the village and Sandy Road, Chester took place over the next three weeks.
Personal items, including a handbag, prescription medication and a half-empty bottle of vodka, were discovered by the river's edge on December 25. Evidence from police officers involved in the search stated that the items were positioned in a way that suggested Ms Charles had been sitting at the location.
The police's underwater search teams were hampered by inclement weather - with heavy rainfall causing the river to be seven metres higher than its usual weather. Officers were unable to conduct underwater searches as a result, due to the level and speed that the river was flowing. They instead conducted surface searches on inflatable boats.
On January 12, an underwater search officer from Cheshire Police discovered Ms Charles' body in the river near Dongrey Hall Farm, about 2.5 miles downstream from where items of Ms Charles’ property had been found on the riverbank.
The inquest was told that a post-mortem examination revealed that Ms Charles had a blood alcohol level of 308micrograms per 100ml of blood - the legal driving limit being 80. It was higher in her urine, at 469. A pathologist gave a likely cause of death as immersion in water and acute alcohol intoxication.
The inquest heard evidence from Ms Charles' partner that she had been struggling with alcohol and her mental health, but had never expressed suicidal thoughts. She had regularly attended the village shop to buy alcohol.
John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, said there was no evidence before him to suggest that Ms Charles had deliberately stepped into the river - despite her partner "intimating" to police during the search investigation that she may have taken her own life.
Mr Gittins said that, in all probability, Ms Charles was likely sat on the river's edge - and, potentially due to a high level of intoxication, fell into the water. He recorded a conclusion of misadventure.
Following the inquest, Ms Charles' mum, Vicky, described her daughter as a "lovely girl".
"We all loved her, she would give anyone help and if we'd known how much she was struggling with alcohol, I would have done my best to help her," she added.
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