A MISSING woman walked into woodland to wash down an overdose of sleeping tablets with rum and wait to die.
Dr Timothy Potts, of Longtown Mountain Rescue, was with the search party that found Judith Friend dead.
His statement, read to a Hereford inquest, told how Mrs Friend, 67, had her arms crooked as if 'reading an imaginary book'.
County deputy coroner Mark Bricknell heard how Mrs Friend, from Llangrove, had made 'serious' suicide attempts before. Each time she took steps to ensure she wouldn't be found, but was.
Mrs Friend was being treated for depression. The inquest heard how a number of personal factors contributed to the condition. She had also suffered from arthritis since her 20s.
In January this year she went missing. Her car had been abandoned on the road between Ewyas Harold and Longtown.
Specialist searchers from Longtown Mountain Rescue combed the surrounding area. Mrs Friend's body was found lying on a bin liner in woodland at Lower Maescoed.
In a bag by her side were an empty bottle of rum and an empty container of sleeping tablets.
A post mortem put poisoning as the cause of death. Mr Bricknell determined that Mrs Friend took her own life.
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