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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Steve Bagnall

Devastated husband woke to find wife, 22, dead in hotel room where they were celebrating first wedding anniversary

A devastated husband woke up at a hotel to find his wife dead just a few feet away from his bed, an inquest has heard.

Noel Rogers woke to find wife Porsche Louise Rogers, 22, dead at the Berwyn Arms in Glyndyfrdwy near Corwen on October 29, 2019, the day the couple were due to leave the hotel.

The couple, who shared a large age gap - Mrs Rogers, of Pen Y Foel, Welshpool, was aged 22 and Mr Rogers was in his 70s - had gone to the hotel to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

Read more: Rugby player took his own life at viaduct while on phone to girlfriend

A post-mortem examination gave a cause of death as hanging, an inquest in Ruthin heard, NorthWalesLive reports.

It also found she had alcohol in her system at just under twice the legal driving limit and anti-convulsant and anti-psychotic medicines, at therapeutic levels.

Mr Rogers told the inquest he went outside to get help after finding his wife on the floor and a refuse collector called the police.

Mr Rogers said the two had met when his wife - formerly known as Amy Louise Roberts - was homeless in Wrexham. She used a wheelchair and came to live with him at a previous bungalow in Acrefair.

At the inquest, he denied he had groomed or exploited her and said they "fell for each other" and Mr Rogers had looked after her.

They had gone to the Berwyn Arms to celebrate their first anniversary and had stayed there for eight nights.

The night before, he went to bed about 9.30pm because he was driving the next day and Mrs Rogers stayed up.

However the landlady at the time, Julie Redmond, called the police, after Mrs Rogers became difficult, when she was refused another drink. Ms Redmond feared the 22-year-old was going to go off in her wheelchair along the A5.

Eventually, after her husband came down and being spoken to by officers, Mrs Rogers went to their room. Mr Rogers said he didn't remember her coming in, before making the awful discovery the next morning.

He said: "I was devastated and upset. I couldn't understand why she did it."

The inquest heard Mrs Rogers had a complex mental health history and had been in the care system when she was younger.

It also heard she had previously self harmed, talked about taking her own life and had placed ligatures around her neck.

Her mother, Linda Roberts, had concerns about the circumstances surrounding her death and said she believed Mrs Rogers would not have taken her own life.

A police inquiry found no suspicious circumstances and an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) probe, found nothing wrong with the way officers dealt with Mrs Rogers at the hotel.

Coroner for North Wales East and Central, John Gittins, recorded a conclusion of misadventure.

He said Mrs Rogers had deliberately used a ligature, but didn't think she had done so to take her own life, given she was so close to her husband, at the time and her actions were "fogged" by alcohol.

"I don't think this was deliberately intended," Mr Gittins said.

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