Vet drowned with dogs after car became stuck in ford

Vet Heike Mojay-Sinclare had been due to meet her friends for a weekend celebration

A vet drowned in her car with her two dogs after becoming stuck in a ford on the way to a 30th birthday celebration, an inquest has heard.

Heike Mojay-Sinclare called 999 at 21:36 GMT on 8 December 2018 to say she was submerged up to her waist in her car at Doles Lane, Derbyshire.

Five minutes later, the 29-year-old told the operator the water was up to her chest, before the call ended.

Her husband Chester said "her presence felt like a warm glow in our lives".

'I am sinking'

Derby Coroner's Court heard Mrs Mojay-Sinclare left her home in Hertfordshire at 19:25 and it was estimated she would arrive at a cottage for a weekend birthday celebration with friends by 22:00.

When she called emergency services, she told the call handler she could not get out of the black Honda Civic, could not see, and said: "I am sinking".

She said she was unsure exactly where she was, but believed she was near Ashbourne, so the fire service visited three fords they knew in the area but could not see a car in any of them.

After working out which ford she must be in, a fire station manager who attended the scene said they "decided to commit crews into the water", where the conditions were described as "fast flowing".

He said: "Crews were up to their shoulders in water and with wading poles searched from bank right to bank left and did not pick up anything."

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Police and fire teams searched for hours, the inquest heard, and at about 05:43 the next morning - when the river level had dropped by approximately half a metre - one member of a water rescue team felt a car underfoot.

The inquest heard how "the car had dropped into a hole" and was found in a "deeper part" of the water.

"The poles would have missed the roof as it had dropped below the river bottom it was traversing," the station manager said.

A pathologist found Mrs Mojay-Sinclare's cause of death to be drowning.

The court heard how police, residents and the parish council had said a number of others had become stuck at the ford in the past.

The road where Mrs Mojay-Sinclare died is now closed, and the only people who have access are those who own land on the lane, the inquest was told.

Paying tribute, her husband Chester said in a statement: "Her presence felt like a warm glow in our lives and although she is no longer with us, she remains an inspiration for many of us today."

The inquest is due to conclude on Friday.