Chirk pensioner's canal death remains a mystery
A pensioner drowned after walking on one of her favourite canalside paths, an inquest heard.
What caused 89-year-old widow Glenys Thomas to fall into the Llangollen Canal remained a mystery after the hearing in Ruthin yesterday.
Her body was found in the canal at Gledrid, near the Poacher’s Pocket pub, on New Year’s Day, a short while after her son Mike Thomas had reported her missing from her home about half a mile away in Chirk.
Mr Thomas told the inquest that his mother had a mastectomy in 2001 and in August 2016, the cancer returned. When told of the diagnosis, however, she was “quite chipper” and seemed to accept the fact.
In the months which followed she became increasingly confused and paranoid, becoming concerned about trivial matters.
Mr Thomas said his mother was quite mobile and refused to use any walking aid.
“She didn’t want anything which made her look old,” he said.
The pensioner often walked her dogs along the canal despite there being quite a steep section of path.
John Gittins, coroner for North Wales East and Central, said she had last been seen by local resident Gareth Hughes the previous evening walking in the dark in Station Road, Chirk.
A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death as drowning. Coroner John Gittins recorded a verdict of accidental death.
