A woman drowned in a shallow stream 10 years after her long-term partner died in the same waters, an inquest heard.

Joanna Lake’s body was found in 8in of water by a dog walker.

It ended a two-week police operation to find her after she was reported missing.

Police search-and-rescue teams recovered her body from the stream off the River Thames in Abingdon, but were unable to find entry points along the bank.

The inquest heard she had been taken to hospital on a previous occasion after being spotted wading through the same waters where her partner, Donald Clark, drowned in 2002.

She had also taken overdoses of prescription medication in the past, the inquest was told.

The inquest heard that Ms Lake had been last seen on February 20 this year.

Police helicopters were deployed in a bid to find her, but her body was eventually stumbled upon by a dog walker in the stream off Crab Tree Close, Abingdon, on March 1.

The 59-year-old, of Pudsey Close, Abingdon, had been suffering anxiety and panic attacks for years preceding her death and had been seeing a counsellor.

In recording an open verdict, coroner Darren Salter said: “Can I be certain that Joanna took her own life? It may very well be the case that she did – she had previously been down to the river and previously overdosed.

“She is likely to have taken her own life, but we cannot be certain.”