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A woman with cancer who drowned herself in a canal left a note slamming the government for not giving ill people the right to die.

Pauline Owen, 67, was found face down in water next to the footbridge on the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in Wrexham.

She had left a letter behind with some of her belongings.

Her inquest held at the Guildhall in Wrexham today heard the note addressed to the police explained how she had refused cancer treatment and had planned to take her own life once the illness got out of control.

She apologised to those who would discover the note, but blamed "successive governments" for not allowing people to end their own lives in a "controlled and dignified manner".

(Image: Ian Cooper)

Ms Owen of Wrexham Road, Johnstown, was found on the morning of March 18 by a cyclist.

The cyclist was traveling along the footpath when he spotted what he thought was a black bin bag in distance, before realising it was Ms Owen's body, the inquest heard.

Another man walking in the area at the time had already rang the police after spotting a letter, left with her belongings on the footpath.

When police arrived shortly after, the officers and the two men pulled Ms Owen from the canal, but she had already died.

She was confirmed dead at 9.11am and identified by her neighbour, who she had known for 27 years.

She did not have any close relatives the inquest heard - something she had stated in her suicide letter.

Days before her death, Ms Owen had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, an illness she had "deliberately concealed" for the past three years, the inquest heard.

She had told her GP she did not wish to undergo any form of cancer treatment for the disease.

Following the diagnosis, John Gittins, coroner for North Wales East and Central noted that Ms Owens had been to visit her neighbour for a chat - something she didn't normally do.

The inquest heard how she informed her neighbour she would be "going off the bridge" following her recent diagnosis, as there would be "no return from there".

A written statement by Ms Owen's neighbour, read out by Mr Gittins at the inquest, said Ms Owens had told her neighbour how "death doesn't worry me", having worked in a crematorium in the past.

She had told her neighbour how she didn't want to suffer.

Mr Gittins ruled Ms Owen's death was a "deliberate act with the intention of bringing her life to an end" and recorded a conclusion of suicide.