THE WIFE of a retired teacher from Caerphilly who died in the flooded River Conwy last week thinks she may have heard him calling to her moments before his tragic death.

A multi-agency search was launched when 75-year-old Brian Perry was reported missing after taking his collie dog for a walk in the village of Trefriw, near Llanrwst, during Storm Bert on November 23.

At the opening of an inquest on December 3, Ruthin John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, said he had been informed by North Wales Police that Mr Perry and his wife Catherine, of Porset Drive, Caerphilly, set out together but he then went on alone with the dog.

The court heard Mr Perry knew the area well and was wearing waterproof clothing.

Mr Gittins said that Mrs Perry spoke to her husband on the phone but raised the alarm about 20 minutes later when she no longer had a reply.

“She said she may have heard him shouting,” said the Coroner.

HM Coastguard, police, fire and rescue service, Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team and the North East Wales Search and Rescue volunteers searched the area until 9pm and then resumed the search the following morning.

Mr Perry’s body was found later that day by the underwater search team in Gower Road, Trefriw, where the water had been chest-high.

Pathologist Dr Mark Atkinson gave the provisional cause of death as drowning.

The inquest was adjourned to a date to be fixed.