A Haverfordwest mother drowned in her family paddling pool last summer, an inquest heard on Wednesday, January 12.

Pembrokeshire County Council employee Joanne Collis was working from home in Haverfordwest on June 10 last year, as was her partner.

After 5pm her partner made the family supper while Mrs Collis was still working. He took her a glass of wine and dealt with some work emails. He later went into the garden to smoke a cigarette and noticed nothing unusual.

However, when he turned round, he saw 58-year-old Mrs Collis lying face-down in the paddling pool.

He rang 999 and began resuscitation until emergency services arrived and took over. Mrs Collis was taken to Withybush Hospital where CPR was continued but unfortunately was not successful.

A post-mortem by Dr Petya Nadiva revealed a blood alcohol level of 125mg per 100 ml of blood; which could cause diminished concentration and loss of critical judgement and control in a non-tolerant individual, but it was not possible to state its effects on Mrs Collis.

The cause of death was given as drowning.

Pembrokeshire coroner, Paul Bennett, said that although it was clear that Mrs Collis had had a glass of wine, the toxicology results were "not indicative of a significant amount of alcohol had been taken but clearly such to be above the road traffic limit [which is 80mg per 100 ml]".

“We clearly don’t know how it is that Joanne ended face-down in the pool; it is extremely tragic that someone should have ended their life in somewhat bizarre context,” he said.

He said that although drowning tended to happen in larger volumes of water it was possible for people to drown in small amounts of water.

“It is clearly a case that we will not know what led to the event of her ending up in the water,” he said. “I am of a view that this can only have come about as the consequence of an accident. Whether Joanne may have wanted to get in the pool and slipped and fell, who is to say?

“However, she ended up in that position; it can not have been an intentional act on her part. She suffered the consequence of an accident.”

He found that Mrs Collis died from asphyxia through drowning in water at her home and recorded a conclusion of an accidental death.

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