Jemma Hart, 45, was found dead at her home in Swindon after a call to police by concerned neighbours who hadn’t seen the mother-of-two and dog lover for several weeks
A woman’s body was partially eaten by her pet dachshunds after lying undiscovered in her home, an inquest heard.
Jemma Hart, 45, was found dead on January 29, last year when her neighbours raised concerns to the police after not seeing her for around a month.
Coroner Ian Singleton described how the mother-of-two was a dog lover and lived for her two pets in Swindon, during an inquest at Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court on Friday, March 7.
The body of Ms Hart was found dead by police with one of her dogs also dead while the other was in a “distressed condition” and the inquest was told that the pets had been feeding off her remains.
“She’d had dogs in the past but in 2022 she got a dachshund called Frankie and a year later she got another one called Millie,” said her son. “Her house backed onto Lydiard Park where she regularly walked her dogs, and the dogs were her life.”
But despite Jemma’s passion for pets, she faced several health and mobility issues which caused her to stop working and she struggled with physical pain and insomnia. Neighbours said they regularly passed Jemma walking her dogs, and could often hear the dogs in her back garden, so they became concerned when a text message to Jemma was left unopened and one dog was heard whimpering.
“On January 29, Wiltshire Police was contacted by Jemma’s neighbours with concerns that they hadn’t seen her since Christmas,” said Coroner Singleton. “Officers went to her home and found her deceased in the living room. One of her dogs was also found dead at the scene and the other was in a distressed condition.”
A police officer who attended the scene said that the dogs had been eating her after her death. No other obvious injuries were found and the death was not believed to be suspicious.
Jemma had lived in the property for around 10 years and despite being known to Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health team, she had not had contact with them for many years. A post-mortem report carried out by toxicologist Peter Street confirmed that the Swindon woman had died from suicide.
Coroner Singleton concluded: “Jemma lived alone with her two dogs in Swindon and she was estranged from her family. Jemma was found in her home with injuries caused by dogs after she died. Her death has been recorded as suicide.”
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