A LOVING mother who was described as the 'life and soul of the party' drowned, an inquest concluded.

Lesley Ann Dennison, 58, of Workington, died on June 16 2022. She was found on Workington shoreline by her son after she was reported missing. 

The inquest heard how the former mail worker had left her home address in the early hours of the morning the day before. She was categorised as a high-risk missing person.

Mrs Dennison's daughter told the inquest her mother had a "beaming smile from ear to ear". She couldn't wait to have a family and when she did, she gave her children a happy childhood, her daughter said, with holidays to Portugal and Scotland.

She also loved music and was always dancing and "laughing so hard she'd snort and have tears rolling down her face."

Her love for horses was passed down to her children, who had their own stables growing up, and this was Mrs Dennison's 'haven'.

Mrs Dennison's daughter explained her parents spent every day together and described her father as her mother's rock.

But loved ones told the coroner's court that Mrs Dennison became a 'shell of her former shelf' after contracting Covid-19 in 2021. She was later diagnosed with depression and psychosis, experiencing health anxiety, poor sleep and loss of appetite. She had threatened her son with a knife.

She also became disengaged and struggled with self-care; her husband left his job to care for her.

Mrs Dennison engaged with mental health teams from Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and was taking anti-depressants and antipsychotics - though sometimes sporadically, the inquest heard.

She was referred to a psychiatrist days before her death and some improvement in her condition was noted.

The Trust has since made a number of recommendations after Mrs Dennison's death, the inquest heard, to ensure the best possible treatment of future patients after it was said there was a lack of face-to-face contact in Mrs Dennison's case and some risk assessments were not completed.

The inquest also heard that Mrs Dennison had a past medical history of depression associated with work-related stress; she was also in a car crash aged 21 and fractured her spine, leading to back problems that made her job hard at times. 

Coroner Mr Robert Cohen expressed his condolences to those who knew her and ruled a conclusion of suicide at Cockermouth Corner's Court while she was 'extremely unwell'. The medical cause of death was drowning. 

Mr Cohen said he was touched by the statements of the family and friends and said they'd approached the inquest with dignity, doing Mrs Dennison 'great credit.'

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