Financial analyst drowned in parents’ hot tub after epileptic fit

A financial analyst was found dead after suffering an epileptic fit in her parents’ hot tub an inquest heard.

Ella-louise Tunney, 26, fell in the tub while she was preparing the water last summer after suffering the fit. It is believed the lid was later blown shut by the wind.

Her body was found by police two days later when they searched the home in Eton Wick, Berks, after she was reported missing.

Miss Tunney’s father had previously searched nearby fields, having not thought to look in the hot tub because the lid was closed.

During the search, he and other family members looking for Miss Tunney had passed the hot tub numerous times but did not think anything was amiss.

The inquest in Reading heard yesterday that the financial expert had been preparing the hot tub to share with a friend on Saturday, June 23 when she fell in. However, her friend did not turn up as arranged.

Miss Tunney had been diagnosed with epilepsy as a teenager but had always managed to keep it under control with medication until November 2017 when its severity began to increase and she suffered blackouts, once having to be dragged out of the bath by a colleague on a work trip.

The officers found text messages Miss Tunney had sent to friends on the Saturday between 3.30pm and 3.40pm, one saying, “chilling in the hot tub”, and the last message saying “I’m in it now”.

A post-mortem examination found that her lungs were hyper-inflated. The cause of death was given as drowning after having an epileptic fit. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.