A 21-year-old dad-of-one died from a heart attack after jumping into a river to try and save his dog, an inquest has concluded. Ryan Wells, also known as Ryan Best, was walking his three dogs along the River Weaver in Northwich with his girlfriend Georgia Garnett and her brother Ray during the early hours of March 28, 2020.
When they were by the river near Weir Street at around 4.40am, one of the three dogs 'excitedly' jumped over a low fence and into the water.
After losing sight of him, Ryan went in after the dog. Georgia saw him struggling and bravely jumped in after him. She then got into trouble too and her brother tied the three dog leads together, which Georgia held onto until emergency services arrived, CheshireLive reports.
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She was helped out of the river before being taken to hospital in an ambulance, while the dog was also found and rescued. But Ryan, from Crewe, had disappeared under the water and was found dead later that day.
During an inquest held in Warrington on Wednesday (May 11), it was confirmed Ryan had not drowned but had suffered a cardiac arrest after entering the cold water. Assistant coroner Jean Harkin recorded a conclusion of misadventure.
A statement from Georgia was read out at the inquest by Ms Harkin. She said the three of them had been struggling to sleep so had decided to go for a walk with their dogs at around 3.30am. She said: "They got to a knee-high fence and stopped there for about 10 seconds. But then their dog jumped over the fence and into the water.
"Ryan used his phone as a torch and Georgia had an actual torch to try and look for their dog. They couldn't find him and started to panic so Ryan passed Georgia his phone and jumped over the fence and into the river."
In her statement, Georgia went on to say that Ryan had been in a number of seconds before he began to panic. She said: "He was looking around and couldn't catch his breath." She could see his head was just below the surface at the time she jumped in after him.
His arms had been 'floundering' but were moving a lot less before she entered the water. The statement continued: "She shouted for Ray to call the police. He couldn't find a torch and Georgia started to get tired when Ray tied the dog leads together and she held on to them.
"After a little while she said she could see flashing lights and hear sirens. She remembers being in the water when police arrived and they eventually put a ladder down. She climbed out and was taken to hospital in an ambulance."
In a statement read out by Ms Harkin, Ray said Ryan was not far from Georgia when she had gone into the water. But he said he soon disappeared out of sight.
Police confirmed they searched the river throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. A diver found Ryan's body at around 2pm. A post-mortem report confirmed that there were no signs that Ryan died as a result of drowning. The pathologist concluded that the cause of death was 1A cardiac 'due to sudden immersion in cold water'.
Recording her conclusion of misadventure, Ms Harkin said: "It's clear from the evidence that Ryan went into the water to save his dog. He had no thought for himself and dived right into the water. To her credit, Georgia, seeing Ryan in difficulty, jumped right into the water to try and save him. Ray saw from the ground, by shining a torch, that Ryan was not far from Georgia but soon he disappeared from view. The police attended, paramedics attended, with a helicopter and a police boat, all searching for Ryan. He was eventually found but sadly he was found deceased."
