Inquest Hears Wife May Have Heard Drowning Husband’s Shouts

An inquest heard that the wife of a retired teacher, who died in the flooded Conwy River, believes she may have heard him calling to her. A multi-agency search was initiated after 75-year-old Brian Perry was reported missing. He had been walking his collie dog in the village of Trefriw, near Llanrwst, Conwy, during Storm Bert on 23 November. At the opening of an inquest in Ruthin, Denbighshire, John Gittins, the senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, stated that North Wales Police had informed him that Mr Perry and his wife, Catherine, of Porset Drive, Caerphilly, had departed together. The inquest was told that he subsequently proceeded alone with the dog, despite being familiar with the locality and dressed in waterproof attire. Mr Gittins reported that Mrs Perry had communicated with her husband via telephone, but she raised the alarm approximately 20 minutes later when her calls went unanswered. “She said she may have heard him shouting.” HM Coastguard, along with the police, fire and rescue service, the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team, and volunteers from North East Wales Search and Rescue, conducted a search of the vicinity until 21:00 GMT, resuming their efforts the subsequent morning. Mr Perry’s remains were discovered later that day by the underwater search team in Gower Road, Trefriw, in an area where the water level had reached chest height. Dr Mark Atkinson, a pathologist, provided a preliminary cause of death as drowning. The inquest proceedings were postponed to a future date yet to be determined. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.