Dad-of-four dies after falling into ditch filled with freezing-cold water – as haunting footage reveals final moments
A DAD-of-four whose disappearance sparked a huge police search died after falling into a ditch filled with freezing water.
Iain MacNicol, 77, vanished from near his home in Pocklington, East Yorkshire, on January 23 last year.
His body was discovered two days later in fields between Market Weighton and Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.
Divers said the water he lay in was up to 3ft deep and about 3C.
An inquest into the pensioner's death heard he went missing during one of his regular country walks.
A major search and rescue mission was launched when he failed to return home.
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Haunting CCTV footage shows his final moments.
Iain's wife told how he could have become confused and disorientated after a decline due to dementia.
The couple met in Malaga in 2001 and got married seven years later before moving to Brazil for three years.
But Iain's behaviour changed and they moved back to the UK, where he was diagnosed with dementia.
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While physically fit, his mental state deteriorated.
His wife had tried to persuade him to wear a GPS tracker with her phone number on but he had refused, it was said.
She told the court: "He would try and go out in the middle of the night and once climbed out of a window.
"I had to lock all the doors and windows which I felt bad about.
"I also got him a GPS tag with our phone number on it in case he got lost but he refused to wear it as he felt he was okay.
"On the day he went missing I was tired and resting while he was downstairs watching the football.
"When I came down alter he was gone."
Dr Laszlo Karsai said Iain died due to immersion in cold water, with heart disease a contributing factor.
Assistant coroner Edward Steele concluded his death was accidental.