GWYNEDD careworker Ffion Wyn Roberts suffered a blow to her head before she was discovered strangled and drowned in a stretch of water, an inquest heard on Tuesday.
Coroner Dewi-Pritchard-Jones said that a second post mortem indicated that Ffion, 22, had been strangled with a ligature, dragged over a hard surface and drowned.
Mr Pritchard-Jones said that a provisional cause of death after the first examination had been made pending further tests.
“It was quite clear that the deceased had been strangled, but not clear if she had been drowned,” he said. “The two pathologists came up with the conclusion that the death was a result of both.”
Mr Pritchard-Jones said that pathology reports from Dr Richard Sheppard and Dr Brian Rogers had “no fundamental disagreements” and that both had gave drowning and ligature strangulation as a definitive cause of death.
Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones said that he followed Home Office guidelines not to hold the body longer than a month as no charges had been made.
However, he ordered a second post mortem as a precaution.
Ffion’s body was discovered at 2pm on Saturday, April 10 in an old drainage canal, known to Porthmadog residents as Y Cyt , close to her home in New Street.
She left the Union pub in nearby Tremadog after a friend’s party at around 4am.
Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones said that Ffion suffered blunt trauma to the back of her head consistent with a blow or striking a hard object.
He added: “There were classic signs of patechial haemorrhaging consistent with strangulation.”
Mr Pritchard Jones explained that inuuries and scratches to Ffion’s face and head indicated that she had been dragged over a hard surface.
He added that the frothy mucus found in Ffion’s was consistent with drowning.
Iestyn Davies, 53, of no fixed address, was charged with murder and appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court last month.
Davies is scheduled appear before the court again in September to enter a plea .
The inquest was adjourned pending the outcome of legal proceedings.