Gaynor Lord: 'Confused' mum who drowned in river was excited about cold-water swimming, inquest told

A mother-of-three whose body was found in a river after a long struggle with mental health issues and epilepsy had recently watched a television programme about cold-water swimming, an inquest has heard.

Gaynor Lord, 55, disappeared after leaving work in Norwich early on 8 December last year.

Her belongings were discovered in a city park and specialist dive teams found her drowned in the River Wensum on 15 December.

Norfolk senior coroner Jacqueline Lake, recording a conclusion of death due to misadventure, said she was satisfied that Mrs Lord had intended to enter the water - but not that she meant to take her own life.

Mrs Lord had suffered from epilepsy since childhood and would have absence seizures, Norfolk Coroners’ Court heard. She had also had psychotic episodes.

In 2011, she was taken to hospital after being found in a local pub worrying that “aliens” were coming and she had to “take everybody to another planet.”

A statement from Clive Lord, her husband of 25 years, was read to the court, in which he said his wife had “seemed absolutely fine” when leaving for work on 8 December and the couple had been planning a trip to Japan.

He said Mrs Lord had recently watched a television programme about cold-water swimming and another friend reported that she had talked “excitedly” about it.

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

“I don’t know this for sure – it’s just me thinking about why she would enter the water.”

He continued: “There’s no reason for her to be at Wensum Park.

“It’s not a park we’ve ever been to before.

“The only reason I can think she went there is so we couldn’t find her.”

The police investigation tracked Mrs Lord’s movements through the city on CCTV and her journey to Wensum Park.

Mrs Lord, a married mother-of-three, left work at Jarrolds department store in Norwich city centre at 2.45pm on 8 December.

CCTV images showed her walking rapidly towards the city's cathedral, then on towards Wensum Park north of Norwich.

She was then seen heading up St Augustine's Street in Norwich towards Wensum Park.

At 8.10pm that evening, a member of the public reported finding belongings in the park, which police trace to Mrs Lord through ID found in her handbag.

After visiting her home, they establish that she did not return from work that evening and that the park was not on her normal route home.

Detective Sergeant Mike Cox said, in a report read to the hearing by the coroner’s officer, that Mrs Lord’s body was “not clothed” and had been 2.5 metres underwater.

No alcohol or “drugs of abuse” were detected in her blood and there was no evidence she had been assaulted, Mr Cox said.

The coroner said that in a “string of messages she said she didn’t know what she was doing”.

Medical details in a police report read to the hearing said that Ms Lord agreed to start HRT in March 2023.

The coroner said that Mrs Lord had suffered a large epileptic seizure on December 4 2023, “a few days before her disappearance”, adding that this was “her first large seizure for some time”.

She said she could make “no finding in relation to her mental health”.

“Gaynor Lord had been married for many years, had children and led a stable life,” the coroner said.

“The evidence is she enjoyed her part-time work at Jarrolds (department store) for Bullard’s gin.”

The inquest heard that phone analysis showed that Mrs Lord sent a series of “confused messages” to contacts on Facebook saying she was “going crazy” and “could feel the fear”.

She sent one message, to a friend who had died, saying: “Help."

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