Angela Rimmer was found in a huge pool of blood by her husband after falling and banging her head
A man described the horrifying moment he found his wife bleeding to death in the hallway of their home – and how he feared detectives suspected he had killed her. Angela Rimmer, 62, was found by her husband William in a huge pool of blood after falling over in the middle of the night.
Angela, who lived in Southport, had suffered with mobility issues for several years before being diagnosed with eosinophilic fasciitis – an extremely rare autoimmune disease that causes the stretchy layer of tissue under the skin to thicken and swell. She would regularly fall over due to her lack of balance and coordination, and she had become increasingly frail, meaning she could no longer sleep in their upstairs bedroom.
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On the evening of August 27, both William and Angela went to bed, with William retiring to the upstairs bedroom after telling his wife to call him if she needed anything. Angela remained downstairs, where she usually slept.
In the early hours of August 28, William heard a “loud boom”, and found his wife in a huge pool of blood. He said: “I heard her say ‘I’ve had a fall, I’m on the bed’ and when I went down there was blood everywhere.”
Angela was initially semi-conscious but when paramedics arrived she suffered a cardiac arrest. She was taken to Southport District General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
An inquest held at Preston Coroner’s Court heard that detectives were initially so suspicious, due to the amount of blood, that they ordered a Home Office post mortem. The dried blood had to be cleaned from Angela’s body to allow the wound – on her forehead – to be found.
Detective inspector Marcus Latham of Lancashire Constabulary said: “There was an awful lot of blood. The Home Office pathologist said it’s possible to bleed catastrophically from a very small head wound.”
The pathologist said in his report: “Whilst this could have been caused by a blow to the head with some form of weapon this is very unlikely. The overall scene findings and wound site suggest a fall to the ground.”
Angela’s husband William described how his wife’s mobility had deteriorated during the months prior to her death. He said: “She got that bad that she couldn’t manage the stairs so she had to sleep downstairs. She was getting more and more frail. She kept falling – she would suddenly just collapse. If she was lucky she would fall onto the bed or the settee.”
William revealed Angela had planned to ring her doctor to ask for the falls to be investigated. However, as she died over a Bank Holiday weekend, she had not been able to call them before she passed away.
Assistant Coroner Richard Taylor said the pathologist had explained that Angela’s severe blood loss could be explained by the anti-coagulation (blood thinning) medication she was taking. She also had an enlarged heart which made her “more susceptible” to significant bleeding. Returning a conclusion of accidental death he said: “There is nothing I have heard to suggest this was anything other than an accident.”
After the inquest William described Angela as “a big lover of animals”. He said: “We’d been together for 30 years. There was so much blood I think the police thought I’d killed her.”
