7 things we learnt from the inquest into Gaynor Lord's death

Here are seven things we learnt from the inquest.

1) The coroner's conclusion

Gaynor Lord went missing in December 2023 (Image: Submitted)

In the inquest into her death at Norfolk Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, Jacqueline Lake, Norfolk’s senior coroner, concluded that her death was due to “misadventure”. 

Ms Lake added she "intended to enter the water but I do find she didn’t intend to die by her actions”.

A post-mortem was carried out at the James Paget Hospital by consultant forensic pathologist Benjamin Swift who gave the medical cause of death as "immersion and drowning". 

2) Her interest in wild swimming

The police search centred around Wensum Park and the River Wensum (Image: Sonya Duncan) In the days and weeks leading up to her disappearance it was discovered that Mrs Lord had taken an interest in wild, cold water swimming.

While discussing HRT and hot flushes, friend Jean Herschel recalled how the mother-of-three got excited about the subject and said she had “been cold water swimming before and that she would have to do it again”.  

Before this, she had also talked about it with her husband after recently watching a television programme about it. 

Although husband Clive Lord said: “She'd never done it herself, but I don’t know if in her confused state she may have been thinking about this. 

“This is something I don’t know for sure, it’s just me thinking about why she could have gone into the water.” 

3) HRT and mood swings

Gaynor Lord before leaving her job on the day of her disappearance In May 2023, Mrs Lord began taking HRT following an appointment with her doctor after complaining about night sweats and mild mood swings. 

“Gaynor started getting menopausal symptoms at the start of this year,” Mr Lord explained. 

“She would get down or bored for a few days when having these mood swings. 

“She was prescribed HRT for menopause from the GP soon after – and had been taking it for around six to seven months."

4) Her links to Wensum Park

Police closed Wensum Park during the search (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest) It is believed Mrs Lord had not been to Wensum Park before her disappearance and went there "not to be found".

Mr Lord added: "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.”

5)Texts and mobile activity moments before she entered the water

A specialist diver searching the river during the search for Gaynor Lord (Image: Chris Bishop) In the police report, Detective Sergeant Mike Cox said that analysis of Mrs Lord’s phone showed that on the afternoon of her disappearance, she sent a message saying “help” to a contact in her phone who had “died some time ago”.

In a further message, Mrs Lord wrote that she was “going crazy” and “can feel the fear”.

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

Phone analysis also indicated that between 4.10pm and 4.30pm on December 8, 2023, Mrs Lord was looking at pictures of her family and of her dog, which her husband said had died around a year earlier.

6) Struggles with epilepsy

Drones were used during the search last December (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest) Evidence read out to the court heard that Mrs Lord had been diagnosed with epilepsy since childhood and would suffer from absence seizures. 

In a statement from her husband, he said: “Her epilepsy appeared to be hormone or stress-related."

Mr Lord went on to say that her seizures would cause her to suffer from memory loss. 

The week of her disappearance, she experienced the first large seizure in four months at around 3am on Monday, December 4. 

7) Links to the Nicola Bulley case

Nicola Bulley’s body was found in the River Wyre last year (Image: PA/ Lancashire Police) With the case drawing many similarities to the disappearance of Nicola Bulley in Lancashire, the inquest heard she told a friend just days before she vanished she wanted to disappear "like Nicola".

They added: “She made a comment to me about ‘disappearing like Nicola - then they’ll come looking’.”

Police previously confirmed they had consulted officers from Lancashire Constabulary who worked on the search for Ms Bulley.

Ms Bulley’s body was found in the River Wyre in Lancashire on February 19 last year.