Pensioner, 92, died ‘after getting stuck in the mud’ on walk through boggy field

An elderly man died after getting stuck all night in thick mud while taking his regular country walk, it is believed.

William Morris Jones, 92, was found in a field by police with his feet deep in the boggy ground after he was reported missing by his concerned family.

An inquest heard he suffered hypothermia after being unable to free himself for up to 28 hours in the waterlogged field near his home, with temperatures as low as 3°C.

Mr Jones, a former golf club groundsman, had just returned to his home in Gwynedd, north Wales, after staying with his cousin Nora Lloyd Roberts for Christmas.

She took him home on December 27 after ‘eating well’, but had no answer when she rang to check on him for the next two days.

Mrs Roberts and her daughter went to Mr Jones’ house, and raised the alarm with police.

Officers made the tragic find after seeing a shopping bag and umbrella on the edge of a muddy field which Mr Jones used as a short cut to get home.

The court heard it was ‘extremely difficult to walk through the field because of the deep mud’ which was ‘unavoidable’.

PC Adam Hall said: ‘His feet were still quite deep in the mud suggesting he could have got into difficulty when trying to navigate through the field.’

Dr Muhammad Zain Mehdi, a consultant histopathologist, conducted a post mortem examination into Mr Jones’ death.

The inquest heard his body was found in a field in Mynydd Ednyfed near Criccieth on December 29 last year.

Kate Robertson, senior coroner for north west Wales, said Mr Jones, a retired Criccieth Golf Club groundsman, died from bronchopneumonia and hypothermia.

She recorded a conclusion of accidental death of Mr Jones, of Criccieth, at the Caernarfon inquest.

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