Dog owner ‘drowned trying to save pet from river’

A woman drowned trying to save her dog from a river while she and her husband were out for a country walk, an inquest heard.

Gail Theresa Lloyd, 50, went into the fast-flowing river to reach her pet after taking their two dogs on a walk.

The hearing was told Lloyd went into the swollen river at Erddig Country Park near Wrexham, North Wales, on the country walk with her husband.

Her husband, Martin, told police their red-fox Labrador called Cadwy had jumped into the water – and that Lloyd had entered it in an attempt to save her pet.

Mr Lloyd said he was walking ahead of his wife on a footpath alongside the fast-flowing River Clywedog when he turned to see her in the water.

“I was calling, ‘Get out, get out,’” he said.

Mr Lloyd waded into the water but his wife was no longer upright.

“I just could not reach her,” he said.

Runner William Cossins was taking part in a Parkrun when he heard screaming – and went to assist along with other passers-by.

They managed to help Mr Lloyd with a rope attached to his wrist to the riverbank as he became increasingly weaker.

Mr Cossins said: “It was too risky to go into the water myself,” he said.

After Lloyd, a project manager with a finance company, was recovered from the river, a member of the public administered CPR.

But when the emergency services arrived she was declared dead at the scene. The cause of death was given as drowning.

The Ruthin inquest heard Lloyd, of Wrexham, was pronounced dead by paramedics after being brought from the water at Erddig Park on the morning of Dec 9.

Recording a conclusion of accidental death, Kate Robertson, the assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, said: “The circumstances are incredibly tragic. Tragically, in trying to rescue her dog, Gail paid with her life.”