THE family of a woman who died at Chirk Aqueduct has thanked the people who tried to save her.

An inquest has been held into the death of Amanda May, of Lower Frankton, Oswestry, who died at the aqueduct on June 16, 2023.

The inquest held in Ruthin on Thursday (January 25) heard how off-duty police officer Luke Neal, who had been running along the towpath, spent about 30 minutes trying to engage with 53-year-old Ms May.

A couple who were nearby in their narrowboat also stopped to help and when PC Michael Jones arrived he, too, spent some time trying to chat to her.

The inquest heard how Ms May, had been increasingly physically and mentally unwell since the beginning of 2023 and she was convinced that she had Motor Neurone Disease and didn’t believe doctors who told her it was a post-viral neurological disorder.

On June 13 she was taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after taking an overdose and while there was spoken to several times by a mental health nurse.

Various options for her care and treatment were considered but Ms May, who was deemed to have the capacity to make decisions, was adamant she didn’t want to be in a special unit, so was allowed home in the early hours of June 15 to be under the care of the mental health service’s crisis team.

At 7am the following day, she told her partner Richard Jones that she was going out for a coffee but when she did not return he began searching for her.

In his statement PC Luke Newell, who did not tell Ms May he was a police officer in case it frightened her, said she told him: “They just want to section me. They think I'm mad.”

Kevin Mansell, a former psychiatric nurse who investigated the matter for the Hospital Trust’s serious incident review, told the inquest that some improvements in dealing with such cases including liaising with the families were being introduced as a result.

“When she was discharged there was a clear plan for the following day,” he said.

Recording a conclusion of suicide, John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, paid tribute to compassion shown by those who tried to help Ms May on the day of her death.

The inquest heard she suffered multiple injuries.

After the inquest, her parents Richard and Liz May, and her sister Emma Blantern issued a statement which read: “We would like to thank all members of the emergency services and those members of the public involved in trying to save our daughter’s life at Chirk Aqueduct on the 16th of June, 2023.

“We are so aware that it must have been a very traumatic event for all of them and words cannot describe our appreciation and thanks for all that everyone did for her.”

The family also thanked the coroner and his staff for their ”great care and support” without which they would not have managed through the dark days.