A SOUTHAMPTON widow whose husband was driven to suicide by her dementia died months later after a fall, an inquest heard.

Valerie Dalton, 87, died on September 19 in Southampton General Hospital after hitting her head at Wilton Care Home.

Her husband Howard drowned himself in May as he struggled to come to terms with her worsening Alzheimer’s Disease.

As reported by the Daily Echo, Mr Dalton, 72, walked into the water at Mudeford Quay, Christchurch – where the couple used to go together. A man’s overcoat was found neatly folded up near Mr Dalton’s abandoned car, his inquest heard last month.

His body was found near the shoreline at Hengistbury Head on May 24 following an extensive search a day earlier by police, coastguard and the RNLI.

On Thursday Winchester Coroner’s Court heard how Mrs Dalton, a retired clerk, fell in a corridor on September 13 and was taken to hospital, where scans found she had suffered brain trauma.

Contracting pneumonia in hospital, Mrs Dalton was given palliative care and died six days later.

“She did say she wouldn’t be here at Christmas,” her son, David Deeney, told the hearing on Thursday. (Dec 17) “Strange.

“I did think she’d be leaving, myself, for some years because she was quite fit in some senses, other than the mental confusion and the tripping over.”

Mrs Dalton was initially given four hours to live, he added, but survived in hospital for six days.

The care home which made the estimated got information from “the wrong people,” Mr Denney said.

Grahame Short, senior coroner for central Hampshire, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Mrs Dalton first showed signs of dementia after her husband retired as a bank clerk in Southampton earlier, his inquest was told in November.

“Howard was very eccentric but they loved one another very much. He coped very well to start with, he cared greatly for mum,” said Mr Denney.

The court in November heard Mr Dalton’s visits could be traumatic, with his wife insulting and shouting at him, not knowing who he was.