Don’t go in the water
Mum’s last words to dad and son killed on magnet fishing trip
A MUM has said her last words to her husband and son before they drowned during a magnet fishing trip were: “Don’t go into the water.”
Grieving Angela Andrews was speaking before an inquest opened into the deaths of Martin, 43, and Jack, 19.
It it believed they lost their lives while using a powerful magnet on a rope to trawl a canal bed for metal.
Angela, 44, had called her husband’s phone when the pair did not come home, only for a police officer to answer.
She said: “I feel like I’ve been robbed of my future.
“I told them that when I went to see them at the chapel of rest – like how can you just leave us like that? I never got to kiss them goodbye that morning because I was in the shower when they left.
“And my last words were, ‘Stay safe, be careful – don’t go in the water’.”
Angela added: “But somehow – they did end up in the water. Their bodies were found a few hours later.”
The inquest in Bradford heard a dog walker raised the alarm after spotting personal items on the canal bank at Cooper Bridge, Huddersfield, on June 16.
Police at the scene answered a ringing mobile phone and spoke to worried Angela, who said her loved ones had gone out at 6.30am and she had expected them home before lunchtime.
Divers were called and the pair were found nearby that evening.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s inquest, Angela said: “They were together, in the bottom of the lock. Round each other, so it looked like one had fallen in, the other had gone after. They are both heroes to me, they have tried to save each other.” Martin and Jack, of Pudsey, West Yorks, had only recently discovered magnet fishing and bonded over collecting old and unusual items.
Angela said: “It came about because my brother came across a bottle – an old glass bottle – in the river and really wanted to find out about it. He thought, ‘I wonder what else we could find?’ So we got the magnets, magnet fishing, and it properly brought them together.
“That’s one of the things making me feel strong. I know they were together and they had hours of fun before the tragedy happened.”
Coroner Peter Merchant said a postmortem showed the cause of death was drowning. The inquest was adjourned.