Young dad dies from cardiac arrest after jumping in river to save dog in Northwich

Ryan Wells was walking his three dogs along the River Weaver in Northwich, before getting into trouble in the water chasing after his dog.

A 21-year-old dad from Northwich died after jumping in a river to save his dog, an inquest has heard.

The pathologist concluded that the cause of death was 1A cardiac 'due to sudden immersion in cold water'.

Ryan Wells, also known as Ryan Best, was walking his three dogs along the River Weaver in Northwich with his girlfriend Georgia Garnett and her brother Ray on March 28 2020.

The group were by the river at around 4:40am, one of the dogs jumped over the low fence and into the water.

Ryan then chased after the dog after losing sight of him.

Georgia then jumped in after him and got into trouble before being taken to hospital in an ambulance.

The dog was also found and rescued, but Ryan had disappeared under the water and was found dead later that day at around 2:00pm.

During an inquest held in Warrington on Wednesday 11 May, it was confirmed Ryan had not drowned but had suffered a cardiac arrest after entering the cold water.

Assistant coroner Jean Harkin recorded a conclusion of misadventure.

A statement was read from Georgia was read out at the inquest and said the three of them had been struggling to sleep so had decided to go for a walk with the dogs.

She said: "They got to a knee-high fence and stopped there for about 10 seconds. But then their dog jumped over the fence and into the water."Ryan used his phone as a torch and Georgia had an actual torch to try and look for their dog. They couldn't find him and started to panic so Ryan passed Georgia his phone and jumped over the fence and into the river."

Georgia was helped out of the river before being taken to hospital in an ambulance.

In her statement, Georgia went on to say that Ryan had been in a number of seconds before he began to panic. She said: "He was looking around and couldn't catch his breath."She could see his head was just below the surface at the time she jumped in after him. His arms had been 'floundering' but were moving a lot less before she entered the water.The statement continued: "She shouted for Ray to call the police. He couldn't find a torch and Georgia started to get tired when Ray tied the dog leads together and she held on to them."After a little while she said she could see flashing lights and hear sirens. She remembers being in the water when police arrived and they eventually put a ladder down. She climbed out and was taken to hospital in an ambulance."

Recording her conclusion of misadventure, Ms Harkin said: "It's clear from the evidence that Ryan went into the water to save his dog. He had no thought for himself and dived right into the water."To her credit, Georgia, seeing Ryan in difficulty, jumped right into the water to try and save him. Ray saw from the ground, by shining a torch, that Ryan was not far from Georgia but soon he disappeared from view."The police attended, paramedics attended, with a helicopter and a police boat, all searching for Ryan. He was eventually found but sadly he was found deceased."