Former teacher died after falling into a stream in Hereford

The inquest heard how the 44-year-old had a long history of mental health disorders.

She had been diagnosed with dependent personality disorder which a psychiatrist believed she had experienced since childhood.

She had been staying in a tent with her partner, Dan Jenkins, for two months before she died.

The tent was pitched on a grass verge next to the busy Hereford Retail Park on Newtown Road.

The day before her death, the couple were told they had been offered supported accommodation at Hope Scott House in Hereford.

The assistant coroner Lindsey Tonks described how Jenkins had gone into the city centre to charge his phone on the morning of February 9th.

As he walked across Newtown Road, he saw his partner’s pink coat near the stream and her body lying face down in the water.

He pulled her out, phoned an ambulance and started attempting to resuscitate her.

“Jo appears to have been trying to walk to the bridge across the brook when she fell,” said the assistant coroner.

“She fell face down and drowned very quickly from cold water shock and the water entering her lungs. She wouldn’t have had time to get herself out.”