Wife heard drowning husband shouting - inquest

The wife of a retired teacher who died in the flooded river Conwy thinks she may have heard him calling to her.

A multi-agency search was launched when 75-year-old Brian Perry was reported missing after taking his collie dog for a walk in the village of Trefriw, near Llanrwst, Conwy, during Storm Bert on 23 November.

At the opening of an inquest in Ruthin, Denbighshire, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central John Gittins said he had been informed by North Wales Police that Mr Perry and his wife Catherine, of Porset Drive, Caerphilly, set out together.

He then went on alone with the dog but knew the area well, the inquest heard, and was wearing waterproof clothing.

Mr Gittins said that Mrs Perry spoke to her husband on the phone but raised the alarm about 20 minutes later when she no longer had a reply.

"She said she may have heard him shouting."

HM Coastguard, police, fire and rescue service, Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team and the North East Wales Search and Rescue volunteers searched the area until 21:00 GMT and then resumed the following morning.

Mr Perry's body was found later that day by the underwater search team in Gower Road, Trefriw, where the water had been chest-high.

Pathologist Dr Mark Atkinson gave the provisional cause of death as drowning.

The inquest was adjourned to a date to be fixed.