Anne Hearn with her grandson

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TRIBUTES were paid to a “fun loving lady, a legendary cook and a doting grandmother” after a coroner’s inquest into her death.

Anne Hearn, 82, of Ryland Road, Kentish Town, was found dead in the Regent’s Canal in September, four days after going missing.

Her daughter Lucy Bowman said of her mother: “It’s hard to sum up 82 years in one go, but in short my mother was a remarkable woman. I knew this but it’s been wonderful to see other people thought so too, with many thoughtful and caring and supportive messages and memories.”

Ms Hearn grew up in a middle-class Catholic family in north London with her siblings Jane, Martin and Peter.

In an account of her teenage years, she wrote about discovering the heady lure of the Hampstead party scene.

She had reflected: “Saturday nights were usually spent trawling around the High Street in anticipation. There were always parties to be found. We looked older than we were, putting on makeup after saying goodbye to the parents.”

In the 1970s, Ms Hearn was able to buy a house near Hampstead with money left from her grandmother.

This allowed her and her daughter to move out of the “condemned house” they had been sharing with a “community of Buddhists”.

During that time Ms Hearn, a single mum after she separated from her partner George, helped set up The Children’s Community Centre in Dartmouth Park with “other like-minded, strong women”.

Ms Bowman said in a eulogy at her mother’s funeral: “She hated having to ask for help – it went against her very nature.

“But she was always the first to offer help. I once came home to find a young man having a meal in our kitchen. Mum had found him crying on his motorbike after he’d left home, so she took him back to our house, fed him, listened to him, and sent him back home.”

Running a marathon

She loved staying busy and worked a variety of jobs over the years, including night shifts at the Royal Free Hospital, the Camden Law Centre, Age Concern, and in later life she spent many years volunteering at the Roundhouse and as a reading volunteer at her grandson’s former school Holy Trinity and Saint Silas, Chalk Farm.

Debby and Dave Hyams from the Inkerman Area Residents Association described Ms Hearn as “slim, quietly elegant, beautifully and individually dressed – usually in modestly stylish vintage clothing – walking at speed around the area”.

Her grandson Daniel was the “apple of her eye”, and Ms Bowman said: “She would have done anything for him, and she pretty much did.

“Coming to all his football games, whatever the weather and wherever he was playing. Always beautifully but usually impractically dressed.

“She spent a lot of time with Daniel when he was young picking him up from nursery and then school, talking to him, taking him to look at trains and going bus tripping.”

On the day she went missing she was preparing a huge meal for Daniel’s 14th birthday party.

Ms Hearn had had chronic pain for many years, but “never let it stop her”, her daughter said.

She added: “She didn’t need a lot to make her happy. Going through mum’s papers I found a page from November 2018 entitled ‘Happiness’.

There were three things listed: number three was ‘no pain today, a huge relief’.

Number two was the choir session she had gone to at Castlehaven to prepare for the Christmas concert.

“And the first was ‘Daniel stayed overnight. He woke at 5am and came in for a cuddle’.”

Anne Hearn

At an inquest at St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Thursday assistant coroner Ian Potter stated it was “not possible to determine a medical cause of death”.

Mr Potter said: “It’s clear Anne was a fun-loving lady, a legendary cook and a doting grandmother.

“Anne lived with numerous ongoing medical conditions including heart issues, osteoporosis, a mild cognitive disorder and chronic intractable pain.

“Anne’s family find it highly unlikely she intended to take her own life. I agree, the evidence suggests Anne was preparing for and looking forward to her grandson’s birthday party that weekend for which Anne volunteered to do the cooking.”

He said her death was either caused by a naturally occurring event which led to her falling into the canal, or an accident.

Her daughter added it was painful not knowing how, or when or why she had died in the canal.

There was no evidence from the police which could determine where she fell into the water.

She was found by Arch One, Water Lane between Kentish Town Bridge and Camden Lock.

Her family believe she had popped out in the evening to get something from Sainsbury’s and had taken a shortcut via the canal.

Ms Bowman said: “It saved a couple of minutes off the journey. She went to Sainsbury’s at all hours, early morning and evening just looking for bargains.

“She was quite spontaneous. She didn’t plan to go shopping, she just went. It is dark round there, it was dark, it was raining that night. It’s the only thing I can think of.”

At her last face-to-face appointment with her GP on September 3, Ms Hearn described her pain as being “on and off”.

On September 26, she was in pain but “declined her daughter’s offer to take her to hospital”, the coroner said, and when Ms Bowman went to check on her later in the evening, she wasn’t at home.

Ms Bowman added: “Anne was a grandmother, sister, aunt, mother-in-law, and friend but above all she was my wonderful mum. And I love her.”