Boyfriend dies trying to rescue dog from the icy sea
a Man drowned after he was swept into the sea while trying to rescue his dog.
alex Hardy, 32, fell over and hit his head as he reached for the spaniel and was then pulled into the icy water by a wave.
His fiancee Joanne Wardle, 36, plunged in after him, knowing that he could not swim. Twice she grabbed him, only to be hurled away by the sea.
Miss Wardle was ‘barely conscious’ when she was pulled from the water by a lifeboat crew. The spaniel, Fudge, also got out alive.
after an inquest into Mr Hardy’s death, Miss Wardle told how the couple had been walking off Hen- don promenade, in Sunderland, when Fudge went into the sea.
Mr Hardy tried to reach him from a slipway but slipped on algae. She said: ‘There was this awful crack as his head hit the ground and for a few seconds he just lay there. Then another massive wave came crashing in and swept him in.’
Miss Wardle, a call centre team leader, tied her own dog to a barrier and dived in. She said: ‘He was a few yards in front of me as i dived in but i was hit by a wave and i surfaced much further away. When i reached him he was conscious.
‘i tried to hold on to him but we were hit by a wave. i was suddenly under the water again.
‘i managed to surface and started to swim towards alex a second time. i could see his head had slumped forward and i thought he’d lost consciousness, so his only chance was me holding his head above the water.’
She reached him, and Fudge also climbed on to them.
‘i had no choice but to grab his collar and hurl him away as i tried to hold alex up. i did everything i could but we were dragged apart again. it was only then that i realised i was in deep trouble. i was being forced down by waves.’
Miss Wardle, who had planned to marry Mr Hardy in 2016, said she was saved just in time in the incident in September. Recording a verdict of accidental death by drowning, deputy coroner Karin Welsh said: ‘You did everything you could.’
Mr Hardy was an nHS security guard with two sons, aged 12 and 11, from a previous relationship.
Miss Wardle said: ‘Fudge and i are the same, i don’t think either of us can quite believe he has gone. Every time a car pulls up in the street his ears prick up.
‘He’s waiting for alex and sometimes i feel the same, i expect him to walk back through the door.’