Wife’s shock as officer at scene revealed father and son’s death

A WOMAN found out about the death of her husband and son in a canal in Yorkshire after her worried phone call was answered by a police officer at the scene, a coroner has heard.

Martin Andrews, 43, and his 19-year-old son Jack died while out magnet fishing for metal in a waterway in Huddersfield earlier this month.

Inquests on both Mr Andrews and his teenage son were opened and adjourned at Bradford Coroner’s Court yesterday.

The brief hearing heard how the pair, who lived in the Pudsey area of West Yorkshire, had gone out early on June 16 to go magnet fishing, which involves trawling waterways for metal using a very strong magnet on a rope.

Concerned passers-by at the stretch of canal close to the River Calder, in the Cooper Bridge area of Huddersfield, raised the alarm when items were found on the bank.

Coroner’s officer Paul Denison told the hearing how a phone rang and, when an officer answered it, it was Mr Andrew’s wife, Angela, who said she was concerned because “it was out of character for them not to be home before lunchtime”.

Police divers were called to the scene and the bodies of Mr Andrews and his son were found submerged in the water close to the floodgates.

Assistant Coroner Peter Merchant adjourned the inquest hearing to a date which has yet to be fixed.