Woman died in icy lake ‘after she was raped’

A MISSING woman drowned after driving into an icy lake a year after she was allegedly raped by a work colleague, an inquest heard.

Hannah Warren, 28, crashed her Mini Cooper into the body of water on Feb 4 2016 after driving 200 miles from her London home to Port Talbot in south Wales.

She had managed to free herself from the submerged vehicle and swim to nearby rocks but she fell back into the icy water and drowned, jurors at the inquest in Swansea heard.

During the hearing yesterday, her mother Jane Barnes said her daughter had been raped by a work colleague in February 2015, almost exactly a year to the day before she died.

Ms Barnes said the Metropolitan Police should have acted sooner after her daughter was reported as acting “irrationally”. A previous hearing was told her family lodged an official complaint with the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the force’s handling of the case.

Coroner Edward Ramsay said the jury would have to decide whether the Met could have done more to protect Ms Warren. The inquest, which is expected to last 10 days, continues.