A mother-of-two from Bury St Edmunds was discovered in the family fishpond after going to take in the washing, an inquest heard.

Sylvia Arnold, 57, was found by her husband on the evening of January 13 earlier this year.

The court heard that Mr Arnold and his son were watching television together at around 9pm, while his wife was in the kitchen, tidying up.

Mr Arnold grew concerned that his wife seemed quiet, and so went to investigate. He discovered the door to the back garden was open.

When he went outside, he discovered Mrs Arnold lying facedown in their fishpond. He shouted for his son, and between them, they managed to remove Mrs Arnold from the water. Mr Arnold dialled 999, while her son began CPR.

An ambulance crew arrived and tried for 40 minutes to revive Mrs Arnold. However, they were unable to get her heart working again, and she was declared deceased.

The court heard that Mrs Arnold, a cleaner, had been diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 14, and suffered from frequent seizures as an adult.

At the time of her death, she was taking anticonvulsant medication, which “incompletely” controlled her seizures.

A post-mortem was carried out, and it was determined that Mrs Arnold’s primary cause of death was drowning.

The presiding coroner Mrs Catherine Wood delivered a narrative conclusion, which allows coroners to provide further details regarding a person’s cause of death where necessary.

She ruled that Mrs Arnold had died of drowning, which was most likely due to functional neurological disorder.