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14
Jul 2023
Missing Harrogate woman found metres from search area, inquest hears
A woman who went missing from her care home in Harrogate last summer was found two weeks later just metres away from a police search area, an inquest heard today.
Judith Holliday was 73 when she left her care home in Harrogate on the morning of Saturday, August 27.
Her body was found two weeks later, on Saturday, September 10, along the railway embankment at Weeton.
At an inquest held in Northallerton this morning, coroner Jonathan Heath heard a post-mortem was unable to ascertain a cause of death. However, the pathologist who carried it out said it was likely she died from hypothermia not long after she was last seen.
The inquest heard the alarm was raised after Ms Holliday, who had a condition affecting her brain after suffering two haemorrhages since 2015, left Harcourt Gardens around 10.30am on Saturday, August 27.
She said she was going to visit her niece, who lived nearby, but she never arrived, and police were contacted later that day. Mr Heath said:
The inquest heard a member of staff at Harrogate Bus Station saw an appeal for information and quickly passed CCTV footage of Judith passing by to North Yorkshire Police.
Further footage of her on Station Parade was then found, but the trail went cold after that.
Ms Holliday was seen on CCTV along Station Parade
Over the following days, as the appeal for information reached more people, a number of sightings of Judith were reported in North Rigton.
She had flagged down a car in south Harrogate around 2.40pm and the occupants had given her a lift to the village. The front-seat passenger, who was named in court, said Ms Holliday told them she was going to meet her friend, but later that she was going to visit her grandparents.
In a report read out during the inquest, the passenger said:
The occupants dropped her at the Square and Compass pub, where a waitress also reported seeing her at about 3.30pm.
Ms Holliday was reported to have walked through the pub and back out of the door, staying around two minutes. The waitress did not see which way she went after leaving.
Read more:
- Police use drone in search for missing Harrogate woman Judith
- Inquest opens for Harrogate woman who went missing for two weeks
The new information moved the police search to centre around the pub. Over the following days, the search expanded, following paths and routes away from the village and stretching down as far as the A658, which runs adjacent to the railway line south of the village.
During the inquest, Ms Holliday's family said they were grateful for everyone's help in the search, but asked why it had not extended further, to include the railway line.
PC Dan Preston, a specialist search advisor, said research showed that physical barriers in the land often stop people who are missing and unsure where they are. He said the road was 500m from the pub where she was last seen, adding:
Meanwhile, a woman who saw the appeals for information to trace Ms Holliday made a report to police in the week following her disappearance.
She said she had seen a woman on the embankment adjacent to the railway near North Rigton around 6.20pm on the Saturday, as she travelled on the train from Kings Cross to Harrogate. In a statement read out at the inquest, the passenger said:
However, officers who had been involved in organising the search told the hearing they had not been passed the details of that reported sighting.
The Dunckeswick Lane level crossing. Photo: Roger Templeman/Geograph
On Saturday, September 10, another passenger on a train between Harrogate and Leeds called police to report seeing what they believed was a body in the undergrowth.
Officers arrived and found Ms Holliday's body around 200m west of the level crossing at Dunkeswick Lane.
She had moved into Harcourt Gardens in early June, where the inquest heard she had settled well. Mr Heath added:
Mr Heath delivered a narrative conclusion, used when there is no clear evidence of a single cause of death.
He said the cause of Ms Holliday's death was unascertained, but that it was confirmed when she was found by the railway line at Weeton on September 10, after she went missing on August 27.
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