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The Leader
Published date: 11 February 2013 |
Published by: Staff Reporter
A CHURCHGOER fell to her death from Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, near Llangollen, an inquest heard.
Irene Beasley, 67, of Llanforda Rise, Oswestry, died on August 6, 2012. An inquest into her death, held at Mold Crown Court on Friday, heard she had been suffering from depression.
Mrs Beasley, a retired accounts clerk, moved to Oswestry from Birmingham in 2005 with her husband Anthony for their retirement. Mr Beasley, a retired garage proprietor, told the hearing: “When we retired she wanted to move to a market town and she thoroughly enjoyed it in Oswestry, she could not wait to get back to our house when ever we went out.
“She joined St Oswald’s Church and had loads of visitors and met a lot of friends.”
Mrs Beasley was part of the church’s Ladies Group and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was her favourite place to walk. In 2009 Mrs Beasley became depressed but sought help from her doctor and took anti-depressant medication.
Mr Beasley said: “She came out of the depression after a few months, so felt better and stopped taking medication, but she became down. “The doctor put her back on her medicine and she got well again, but not like before.
“After last Christmas we went to see someone in Birmingham and on the way home she said she felt like she wanted to end it all, but when we got back we had a talk and she said she didn’t mean it.”
Mr Beasley had reported her missing to police once before but on that occasion she said she went walking around the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
“On the day she died she went to get her prescription and about an hour later I knew something was not quite right,” said Mr Beasley. “I phoned her but her phone was turned off and then two police officers came down about 2 pm.
“When I saw the police car I knew what had happened,” he added. The inquest heard Mrs Beasley drowned but multiple injuries contributed to her death.
North East Wales coroner John Gittins recorded an open verdict because he said Mrs Beasley had not shown any intention to harm herself, except for one passing comment, and he could not be certain this was a deliberate act by her to end her life.