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Wednesday 1 October 2014

Tragedy ! Bride-to-be drowned in holiday pool on morning of wedding venue visit

Holiday tragedy: Emma Campbell died at her family's home in Menorca A bride-to-be drowned in the swimming pool of her family's Spanish holiday home on the morning of a visit to the church where she was to be married. Emma Campbell was found in the deep end of the pool in Menorca by her fiancé George Mudford on the morning of July 3. He had gone for a run that morning, leaving 29-year-old Emma drinking a glass of orange juice at the pool-side. At an inquest in Basingstoke into Emma's death, he said: "When I came home from a run I found my fiancée face down in the deep end of the pool. "I jumped in and immediately pulled Emma to the surface and performed CPR to the best of my ability and screamed for help." He said that an ambulance arrived, but the paramedics were unable to save her. Mr Mudford added that Emma, from Winchfield, Hampshire, had not spoken of her intentions that morning as she was not a "morning person". Her mother, Sally-Anne Le Clerc, said that the couple had an appointment to view the church that morning. She said: "They were looking at venues to be married and they had got an appointment, they had decided to look at the church at that time." "She was well able to swim, she knew the pool, she had been there from a very early age, she was a good swimmer." Ms Le Clerc told the hearing that her daughter had been born with a heart defect, pulmonary atresia, which she explained meant that she had only one pumping chamber. She said that she had undergone operations when she a baby and at three years of age, but had not suffered any long-term effects and was not on any medication for the condition. North Hampshire coroner Andrew Bradley said that post mortem examinations carried out in Menorca and Basingstoke gave the cause of death consistent with drowning. Recording a verdict of accidental death with a background of Miss Campbell's heart condition, he said: "I have no doubt it's an accidental death, had she not been under water, the nature of this event would not have happened, it's that helpless situation.