Mother drowns at sea swimming with husband
A MOTHER drowned while swimming in the sea with her husband on holiday in Spain, an inquest heard.
Julie Dudhill, 57, a project manager from Fleet, Hampshire, was swept out to sea after drifting away just yards from her husband, Andy, in the water on June 27. Realising his wife was in danger, Mr Dudhill swam back to shore in order to call the lifeguard.
Mrs Dudhill’s body was then brought back to the beach in Alicante, where she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Dudhill, an electrician from the Isle of Wight, was said to be “absolutely devoted” to his wife.
He was away from home this weekend as the inquest into the death took place. An inquest at Basingstoke, Hampshire, was told yesterday that the pair were swimming together in the waters of the Costa Blanca on June 27, but when Mr Dudhill turned around, his wife had been swept out to sea.
Mr Dudhill was not at their £300,000 home this weekend but a neighbour said: “He was absolutely devoted to her. She was lovely. Everybody is so shocked at what has happened.”
According to her LinkedIn profile, Mrs Dudhill worked at John Lewis as a project manager. Her cause of death was confirmed by the coroner as asphyxia by drowning.
Earlier this year, a fouryear-old British boy drowned in a swimming pool in Torrevieja, just south of Alicante. Two British women also died in 2015 after going for a late-night swim in the Costa Brava, northern Spain.
Figures collated by Luis Miguel Pascual, of Escuela Segovia de Socorrismo, a charity devoted to drowning prevention, showed 47 people drowned in Alicante in 2014, the second highest in Spain. Hotel managers are reported to be campaigning for longer lifeguard seasons.
The inquest was adjourned until October and Mrs Dudhill’s son did not want to comment on the circumstances of his mother’s death.