Jess Hardiman
The parents of Location, Location, Location presenter Phil Spencer were trapped underwater for 20 minutes when they died in a tragic car accident, an inquest has heard.
His mum Anne, 82, and dad Richard, 89, died in a car accident on their family farm earlier this year.
Spencer confirmed the horrific news on social media, writing: "Very sadly both of my amazing parents died on Friday.
"As a family we are all trying to hold onto the fact Mum and Dad went together and that neither will ever have to mourn the loss of the other one. Which is a blessing in itself.
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"Although they were both on extremely good form in the days before (hence the sudden idea to go out to lunch), Mums Parkinson's and Dads Dementia had been worsening and the long term future was set to be a challenge.
"So much so that Mum said to me only a week ago that she had resigned to thinking "now it looks like we will probably go together. And so they did.
"That was what God had planned for them - and it was a good plan."
Spencer said the car was 'going very slowly' when it 'toppled over a bridge on the farm drive, upside down into the river'.
He said he doubts his parents would have 'fought' their fate, and likely 'held hands under the water and quietly slipped away'.
An inquest into Anne’s death opened today at County Hall in Maidstone, Kent, where a court heard how she died of a lung infection and brain injury after being submerged underwater for up to 20 minutes.
Sarah Clarke, Area Coroner for North East Kent, told the court the couple's carer managed to escape through the passenger window and called for help.
However, Anne was later pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.
“Mrs Spencer died on August 18, 2023 at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Kent," Clarke said.
"Identification was dealt with by police and her family. The circumstances, as I understand them, were that approximately 12.20pm on August 18, Mrs Spencer was driving her Toyota.
"In the front passenger seat was her husband and sitting in the rear passenger seat was their full-time live-in carer.
“Mrs Spencer drove from their house down a private lane towards a junction which transverses the Nail Bourne River. As the vehicle negotiated the bridge, which had a steep slant down and a sharp edge, it tipped over the edge and struck the bottom of the river and overturned - submerging all three occupants in three feet of water.
“The carer escaped through the passenger window and called for help. It is thought that Mr and Mrs Spencer were submerged for up to 20 minutes. Paramedics arrived at 12.57pm and took Mr and Mrs Spencer to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital.
“Mrs Spencer was pronounced deceased at 9.55pm while she was in hospital," Clarke explained.
"Her cause of death was given as 1a) aspiration pneumonia and hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and 1b) submersion in water (near drowning).”
Last month, an inquest heard that Richard died of a lung injury after nearly drowning in the accident.
Clarke set a date for a full inquest into the couple's deaths for 19 December.