A POPULAR Malvern businessman drowned after he tried to retrieve a dog’s ball from the sea at Aberdovey in Wales.

Nick Waller, aged 48, who ran Edith Walk-based Waller and Waller Opticians, was on holiday with his wife Karen when tragedy struck on Sunday, November 27 last year.

A verdict of accidental death was returned by North West Wales coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones at the hearing in Dolgellau.

Mr Pritchard Jones said: “Mr Waller fell over in the sea. It led to his clothes being saturated and heavy.

“He was unable to save himself and stand up to get out of the water, presumably due to the very heavy weight.”

Mrs Waller told the inquest they had gone for a walk with their Labrador dog and threw two balls for their pet to fetch.

“We didn’t realise the weather conditions,” she said. “The wind swept one ball in one direction. I got into the sea up to my ankles and realised that I was going to get very wet.

“I only had ankle boots on. My husband had wellingtons on and I called him to get the ball. The second ball was being blown out to sea.

“My husband went out to retrieve it.”

She said Mr Waller was wearing a Barbour jacket, a fleece and gillet top.

“The last words I heard him utter were, ‘My jacket’s too heavy’ .

“Whether his boots got filled with water, I don’t know. I was looking at the dog.

“The next thing I saw my husband was floating. I didn’t see him fall. I didn’t even think that he would drown.”

With the help of a passer-by she dragged her husband from the sea after wading out up to her waist but Mr Waller was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem carried out by pathologist Dr Tony Caslin revealed the cause of death was drowning.

The couple married in Malvern College Chapel in September, 2005.

Mr Waller attended Malvern College and studied in Reading before joining the family business alongside his father Hugh in 1982.

He was also a regular in the Chase Inn, Upper Colwall, and was a founding member of the pub’s Chasers cricket team in 1996.