​A former Mayoress of Gloucester whose body was found in a brook a month after she went missing from home last year died as the result of an accident, an inquest decided today.

Joan Williams, whose Tory councillor husband Gordon was Mayor of Gloucester in 1979/80, disappeared from her home in the city's Heathville road on October 13 2009.

Police launched a full scale search for 76 year old Mrs Williams but it drew a blank and after four days, it was called off.

Her body was not found till November 9, in the brook which runs behind houses in Rookery road, Innsworth, near Gloucester - about four miles from her home.

Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore heard that the cause of Mrs Williams' death was could not be ascertained.

Mrs Williams, who suffered from dementia, had left her home on Oct 13th to go to a friend's for coffee but never arrived.

Giving his verdict, the coroner said: "I have looked at maps of the area and although it is only my assessment, I can see that if Mrs Williams had walked almost in a straight line from her home, she would have found herself in Rookery Road.

"It is more likely than not that she became confused and did not take her normal route to her friend's house.

"I think she could have fallen into the brook which would have been very cold at that time of year, and suffered a sudden heart arrhythmia which caused her death within a very short time."

Verdict: Accident.