Gareth Hughes

Seventeen-year-old Ashamekh Bortata drowned in a 2.6-metre-deep lake near Chirk Castle after travelling from Liverpool with six friends. He entered the fenced-off private lake to swim towards a boat, called for help and lost his grip when a friend tried to rescue him. An underwater search initially failed to locate him, and his body was recovered the following day. Senior Coroner John Gittins recorded a conclusion of misadventure.

An inquest heard that self-employed plumber David James Shone, 42, died after his Ford Ranger clipped the verge, fishtailed and ran down an embankment near Halkyn on the A55 on October 11, 2025. Investigators found good road conditions and no mechanical faults. Toxicology showed a combination of non-prescribed sedatives, which the coroner considered the probable cause of the loss of control; cocaine residue was also detected but was not considered a contributing factor. The coroner recorded a conclusion of death in a road traffic collision.