Gaynor Lord: Drowned mum watched cold water swimming programme

A mother-of-three whose body was recovered from a city’s river after a week-long police search had recently watched a TV show about cold water swimming, an inquest heard.

Gaynor Lord, 55, was found in the River Wensum in Norwich, on 15 December 2023, after failing to return home from work a week earlier.

Norfolk Coroner’s Court heard she died by immersion and drowning.

Senior coroner Jacqueline Lake said she believed Mrs Lord intended to enter the water but did not intend to take her own life and concluded she died by misadventure.

The coroner said Ms Lord, of King Street in the city, was on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for the menopause and was taking medication for epilepsy.

Ms Lake said Ms Lord’s mental health was “noted as stable” in January 2023 but “there was evidence in the more recent past that she was acting out of character”.

A statement from her husband Clive Lord, read out in court, said: “Gaynor had recently watched a TV show about swimming in ice cold water.

“She’s never done it herself but I don’t know if in her confused state she may have been thinking about this.”

The inquest also heard Ms Lord had discussed with a friend whether swimming in cold water could help with hot sweats.

Mr Lord said he had seen his wife before she went to work and they had discussed planning a holiday to Japan.

He said there was “no reason” for her to be in Wensum Park and they had never visited it together.

He said there had been no “arguments” or “disagreements”.

The coroner said Ms Lord had suffered a epileptic seizure on 4 December which had been “her first large seizure for some time”.

However, it was ruled there was “no finding in relation to her mental health”.

Ms Lord had been working as a retail assistant on a gin counter at Norwich department store Jarrolds and on the day she went missing and CCTV footage showed her leaving work an hour earlier than expected at about 14:45 GMT.

A large search operation began when her belongings, including clothing, jewellery and a mobile phone, were found scattered across Wensum Park to the north of the city centre.

Det Sgt Mike Cox told the court her body was found “not clothed” and had been 2.5m underwater.

In a police report, Mr Cox said on the afternoon of her disappearance she had sent a message to a contact in her phone who had “died some time ago”, saying “help”.

In a further message she said she was “going crazy” and “can feel the fear” and in a string of messages said she “didn’t know what she was doing”.

Norfolk Police previously said it did not suspect any “third-party involvement” and Det Sgt Cox said there was no evidence she had been assaulted, or had any alcohol or “drugs of abuse” in her blood system.