A distraught husband has described the moment his ‘healthy’ 31-year-old wife died suddenly in his arms as they lay in bed.
Mum-of-two Gemma Sinclair had made a sound similar to gurgling before passing away on July 5 last year, an inquest heard.
Husband Jamie, 33, told coroner Robin Balmain he had initially laughed when he heard the noises his wife was making, thinking she was playing a joke on him.
But she had gone into cardiac arrest and ambulance crews failed to revive her.
Pathologist Dr Smita Deshpande, who carried out a post mortem, said all results from her tests, including toxicology and a microscopic examination of Mrs Sinclair’s heart, had proved negative.
Giving the cause of death as sudden adult death syndrome, Dr Deshpande said: “Unfortunately we cannot pinpoint what the exact cause is.”
Mr Balmain said Mrs Sinclair’s death was ‘desperately sad’ and ruled it was due to natural causes.
Labourer Mr Sinclair told the coroner his wife, a chef at The Greedy Pig cafe in Wednesfield, had woken him just after 6.30am at their home in Victoria Road, Bradmore, Wolverhampton.
Speaking after the case, he told the Birmingham Mail: “She was sitting up in bed, half in and half out, making a weird noise, not quite like a gurgling, and not struggling for breath. It’s hard to describe.
“I’ll never forget, she had her back to me and I was laughing at her, saying ‘what are you making that noise for?’ I was tapping her – I thought she was dreaming. When I leaned round to look at her face, I really woke up. She was still there – it wasn’t like a fit as such. But when I got no response from her I realised it was serious trouble. She died in my arms, basically.”
He told Mr Balmain: “She never screamed out or shouted for help – nothing. It was like something just switched off.”
Mr Sinclair said he and Gemma, a former pupil of Ounsdale High School in Wombourne, had been together since they were teenagers and had a daughter Lauren, now 13, and a son Josh, 11.
After spending years saving for their wedding they finally tied the knot at St Bartholomew’s Church in Penn in August 2012.
Hundreds of mourners attended Gemma’s funeral at Beckminster Methodist Church on July 29 last year.
Mr Sinclair said: “I’ll always remember the vows we said at our wedding. ‘Till death do us part’ was the last one, and the first one to come true.
“I just keep going from day to day, really – the kids are only things that keep me going. I think about Gemma every minute of every day.
“Christmas was devastating. Every programme on the TV and every advert had families hugging. That’s been the most difficult time of the lot so far.
“Gemma was my best friend, everything – my soul mate and my lover.”
