A Woman Dies Six Years After She Was Buried Alive By Her Fiance
After crawling out of a shallow grave six years ago, a woman was buried alive by her fiance, an inquest heard.
While walking on a coastal path at Langland Bay, Swansea, Stacey Gwilliam’s partner Keith Hughes strangled her in a row in July 2015.
She had managed to claw her way out of the grave using her nails after he tried to ‘snap’ her neck before burying her at a golf course.
PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks plagued Ms Gwilliam after the attack, according to the inquest in Swansea.
As a result of being buried alive, she also developed pneumonia.
After suffering from a chest infection, Ms Gwilliam, from Townhill, Swansea, passed away in November last year.
A day before she died, she called her doctor and was prescribed antibiotics.
Sadly, she died the following morning after self-medicating to treat her infection.
Coroner Colin Phillips concluded that the victim died as a result of self-medication.
In the aftermath of the crash, Hughes, 39, was arrested, but he claimed: ‘You’ll never find her.’
Judge Paul Thomas at Swansea Crown Court sentenced Hughes to life in prison with a minimum of eight years.
After meeting Hughes for the first time in 2011, Ms Gwilliam started experiencing abuse from him.
Her family noticed ‘marks and bruises’ on her body during the relationship while fearing for her safety, according to PC Tom Evans of South Wales Police.
According to a victim statement, Stacey spent nearly three weeks in a coma after she ended their relationship.
During our relationship, he was cruel and abusive to me, and I am now living with the indignity of that for the rest of my life. I will never ever forget what he did to me that day.
‘I only hope he does as well.’
After the attack, the former Virgin Atlantic worker spent three months in the hospital and had to relearn how to walk and talk.
According to the inquest, Ms Gwilliam had been ordering medication online – and toxicology reports found that she had taken a number of sedative drugs prescribed to her.
The cause of death was bronchopneumonia with combined drug toxicity, according to a post-mortem by Dr John Williams.
‘I’ve heard she was subjected to a variety of abusive relationships during her short life,’ he said.
No evidence indicates that she planned to end her life on this occasion.
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