A WOMAN who had only been married for four months died last year in an accident at her home.  

Lorna Wilson, 47, was found dead in her home in Greyfriars Close on Monday, November 7, 2022.

Mrs Wilson was a known community activist and artist in Salisbury and even stood as a Green Party candidate in the parish council elections in 2021. 

PC Luke Bianco discovered Mrs Wilson lying on the floor of her kitchen next to her wheelchair, with the strap of her handbag around the back of her neck.

Police had been called to the address for a welfare check after Mrs Wilson’s husband of four months, Paul McFarland, had not heard from her for a day.

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The two were still coordinating moving in together because they required a home that could accommodate people with disabilities.

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Toxicology confirmed that Mrs Wilson had been drinking before her death, however, Dr Matthew Flynn of Salisbury Hospital said he did not believe the alcohol to have been a direct cause of Lorna’s death. 

Dr Flynn added that Mrs Wilson was very “unlucky” because the handbag strap “passed over a critical structure of the neck.”

In expressing his condolences to her parents, Luke and Carol Wilson, both 77,  he told them Mrs Wilson would have died peacefully.

After hearing the evidence, Wiltshire Area Coroner Ian Singleton concluded the inquest by determining Mrs Wilson’s cause of death to be accidental. 

Mrs Wilson moved to Salisbury in 2011 and was active with Salisbury Parkrun, Climate Action Group, and the Trussell Trust.

She also stood as a Green Party candidate in Fisherton and Bemerton Village in May 2021 and led a campaign to have the insulation in her housing block at Greyfriars Close properly repaired according to government standards.

She had been a wheelchair user since overcoming a brain injury in 2010.

Carol said: “She was such a determined young woman, which makes this outcome so sad.”