A missing woman was found dead in same place where her brother killed himself two decades earlier. The circumstances surrounding the death of Carol Church could not be determined, a coroner concluded.
The 54-year-old gran was reported missing by her family on February 24, 2022, reports Wales Online. She was then found the next day near the River Usk in Wales.
An inquest into Carol's death heard that she could not be revived by emergency services who attended the scene. She was confirmed dead at 3.30pm by paramedics.
Coroner Caroline Sanders says that the 54-year-old had "a history of alcohol dependency and mental health problems". Last year, she was referred to a primary care mental health specialist and assessed.
Carol described a series of traumatic events in her life and a "number of options" were discussed for her get help via psychological therapies. However, the inquest heard she did not pursue these treatments and later declined further help from mental health services.
Ms Saunders said: "A post-mortem examination confirmed that Carol had drowned. Her family has indicated that Carol died in the same location as her brother, who had taken his own life 20 years ago. However investigations have failed to determine the circumstances surrounding Carol’s death and I cannot find that she took her own life."
Carol's son, Nicky Church, previously called for better accessibility to mental health care back in March. He said: "I think when someone is struggling like that their partners or family members need to be listened to by professionals. I know there are protocols and rules but, for example, we couldn't even get past a receptionist to speak to a doctor when we rang the GP up.
"I don't know what the answer is to improve things for individuals struggling and their families but someone has got to know. Someone has to have an idea for some sort of process you can go through to deal with things like this – especially when you have that initial concern.
"If we had more knowledge at the time about places we could have gone then we would have sourced that. Our two main ports of call were the doctors and the police and they can only take it so far."
The devastated son described his mother as "lovely and wonderful" who cared deeply for her family. Nicky added: "She loved kids and loved her grandkids. She loved everyone else's kids too. She was always giving sweets and chocolates to and looking out for the neighbours' kids.
"She was always doing something for somebody else and always willing to help – she would give you her last penny. That was just the type of person she was."
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