A coroner has said its “unclear” if a 35-year-old former NHS worker, who drowned in the River Welland looking for a dog, deliberately entered the water or fell in.
Seonaid Patel, of Moulton Seas End, was walking four dogs at Moulton Marsh Nature Reserve on the morning of Wednesday, June 13 when the incident happened.
An inquest into her death at Lincolnshire Coroners’ Court heard she had descended the river bank to look for one of her dogs called Goose who had not returned after being in the river.
At the time she was walking with Mr Robert Highams and his two dogs who, he told the inquest, had also been in the river.
He said: “Goose didn’t come back. Seonaid blew her whistle and called but he didn’t come back.
“Seonaid went to help as she said she could hear something and went down the bank.
“I went back to the side of the river and saw he (Goose) had come back.
“I shouted Seonaid’s name but I couldn’t see her.
“I shouted after her, but there was nothing.”
A subsequent search of the area involved Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, the coastguard, the air ambulance, police helicopters and drones.
The inquest heard that aided by the receding tide, police divers found Seonaid’s body at 1.35pm between a barge belonging to the Enviornment Agency and a jetty, close to where she was last seen and where her phone and a packet of cigarettes had already been found on the river bank.
Mr Highams told the inquest he did not believe she had them in her hands when he had last seen her.
At the time of her death, Mrs Patel was without a job but had previously worked for the NHS.
She was described in the hearing as 5’5″, blonde and of short build.
The inquest heard she previously held the surname Mead but was now divorced.
Her partner Mr Anthony Gray was at work at the time.
He said: “We have four dogs and she walked them every day and often takes them where the accident happened so knows the area very well.
“I’ve been there many times myself, sometimes with Seonaid.
“She takes them walking, lets them off the lead and they’re well behaved so always come back to her.”
Mr Gray said that he knew the dogs regularly went swimming in ponds but was not aware of them gong in the river before.
He continued: “I’d explained to Seonaid several times about how dangerous the river could be.”
Seonaid was described as a ‘swimmer’ by Mr Gray who said she’d had lessons earlier in life.
A post-mortem report to the inquest concluded that the medical cause of death was drowning.
It also stated that Seonaid suffered a laceration to the head, but as there was no fracture to the skull author Dr W Hew concluded the injury did not contribute to her death.
Concluding that Seonaid’s death was an accident coroner Murray Spittal said: “ Seonaid was a young lady in good health who was walking her dogs around 10am, in company, on a raised bank of the River Welland in Moulton Marsh Nature Reserve. She was in good health.
“She was seen to discend the bank to look for one of her dogs.
“She was not seen entering the the water.
“It’s unclear whether she fell or entered the water deliberately.
“The body was found a short distance along the bank.
“The fast flowing river is likely to have taken her to this place.
“The medical cause of death was drowning.”
