Loisa Dellow

Loisa Dellow was found dead in her bath at her home at 5 The Park in Ealing.

She was fully clothed.

She was last heard moving about in her room by a neighbour on the Thursday afternoon 15 January 1959. She was later found dead in the bath on Friday 16 January 1959.

Her inquest heard that when she was found the water in the bath was stone cold but that some water in a kettle was still warm.

The neighbour that had heard her moving about on the Thursday said that she had been out shopping on the same day.

She was found by a collector with North Thames Gas Board when he called at her home at about noon on the Friday. He said that he had gone into the bathroom on her floor and had found her lying face downwards in the bath.

He said, 'She was fully dressed, apart from her shoes, and the bath was full of water. I tried to get her out of the bath, but saw that she was dead. I went downstairs and told a man and the police were called'.

A police constable said that when he arrived at the scene that he got Loisa Dellow out of the bath and applied artificial respiration but that there was no response.

He said that the bath had been full to the overflow pipe and that there was a plug in the bath but that it was not attached to a chain.

He said that there was nothing in the bathroom to indicate that Loisa Dellow had been preparing to have a bath.

The pathologist that examined her body said that he found no marks of violence and that her death had been due to drowning.

He said that he found no disease of the brain that might have accounted for a fall. However, it was noted that samples of her handwriting had been examined which was found to be extremely shaky and which indicated that she might have been suffering from Parkinson's disease.

Her nephew said that Loisa Dellow was 'very shaky', but that she had had no falls as far as he knew and that she got about quite well and did her own shopping.

When the Coroner summed up he said, 'There is no evidence to indicate whether she fell into the bath or whether she got into the water to take her life', and an open verdict was returned.

It was stated that how she came to be in the bath remained a mystery.