Husband told wife he felt 'anxious' less than an hour before tragic hotel death

Billy with his wife Ashley
-Credit: (Image: Ashley Morley)


A dad tragically made a final call to his wife less than an hour before he died. Billy Morley, 45, was at a stag do in Liverpool on June 30 when he suddenly passed away in his hotel room on Stanley Street, among close friends.

Billy, loving husband to Ashley and father to five-year-old April and stepfather to 13-year-old Jack, had travelled from Cleator Moor, Cumbria, to Liverpool for a weekend presumed to be filled with celebration alongside his mates.

Tragically, the builder experienced what is suspected to have been a heart attack after telling his wife over the phone that he felt "anxious", before dying soon after. His wife, Ashley Morley, 36, told the ECHO how the phone call from her husband "still doesn't feel real".

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Recalling the harrowing events of that day in June, she said: "Billy had gone on a stag do to Liverpool. He had called me in the morning and said he felt really anxious. We both suffer from anxiety but it's usually nothing to worry about.

"Whenever we are away from each other we always checked in. I had spoken to him about 1.30am when he'd got back to the hotel, he sounded drunk but fine.

"I had said to him to go to sleep and we will speak in the morning because we were going on holiday in a few days, so I was telling him to get some rest and we will drive to the airport when he's ready, and that there was no rush to get to the airport.

"He rang me the next morning and said 'I'm really anxious, I've not slept.' I said to him 'I'm sorry I wish I could do something' and asked if he wanted me to get him a train home and I'll collect him from Penrith station.

"I told him I'd call him back in 30 minutes to see how he was. As I was putting the phone down I heard him say to Alex [his friend] 'I can't stand up.'

Ashley went to look for trains on Trainline to see if she could get him an earlier train home. She said: "I found him one and went to ring him back. There was no answer.

Billy pictured with his family who he would do "everything" for
Billy pictured with his family who he would do "everything" for -Credit:Ashley Morley

"I called again and no answer, so I messaged to say 'you are worrying me.' Then my best friend's husband [Ryan] rang me and said it's not great, he [Billy] is with the paramedics. I said is he dead? The phone call still doesn't seem real.

"I just can't Imagine making that phone call to your wife's best friend. I'm devastated for the lads having to witness it and Ryan having to ring me.

"I kept calling Ryan because I needed to know what was going on. It went on for 45 minutes and then he rang me and said 'I'm really sorry' - and that was it. Basically he suffered a massive heart attack and he was gone.

"It's only been ten weeks so it's all so raw for us all. We're trying to get through it every day. I would be so lost without my family to be honest."

Ashley met Billy, who was a huge Liverpool FC fan, eight years ago after meeting on a night out. She told the ECHO how they knew of each other previously but this one night they got talking and were inseparable ever since.

She said: "He moved in basically straight away. We had a very good marriage, he was my person. Some people never get what me and Billy had in their lifetime and we were lucky for that.

"It's cruel but I'm so pleased that I got that with him. I was everything to him and he was everything to me and I know that."

Ashley added: "He was an absolutely brilliant dad. April was his world. It's a heartbreaking thing when it's a sudden loss. He would never have chosen to leave us.

"I have to live our life for both of us now, for April." Ashley paid an emotional tribute to her "amazing" husband who was "funny" and "always smiling".

She said: "He was very much a people person that loved to be around people. He was always helping people, he was a builder and would help people with his work and his customers became family.

"He was an all round lovely person and it came from his family. His family are lovely people, as soon as we met they treated me like a daughter. I don't know what I'd do without them to be honest. We all absolutely adored him. Every day is totally different now."

Ashley wanted to pay a special thank you to the people who helped Billy that day. She said: "Without the people who helped that day I dread [to think of] the circumstances.

"It breaks my heart that he wasn't at home but I couldn't imagine my little girl watching that. I'm glad her last memory of her dad is him giving her a little kiss before he went and saying goodbye, and that's how I want her to remember him.

"He loved April more than anything. He was always thinking of us. When we got his suitcase back with his stuff in and we were going through it, we found that he had got a little snow globe for April with the Liver Building inside and a Liverpool fridge magnet.

"Whenever we went away to cities we would always get a fridge magnet. The feeling of missing him is unbearable. My kids, they have been my rocks. We will get through it."

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