Man, 47, is found dead in a swimming pool at £1.3million Surrey home as police launch investigation
Police have found the body of a 47-year-old man floating in a swimming outside a £1.3million Surrey home in the upmarket village of Churt.
It was believed Gareth Rees may have suffered a heart attack while cooling off in the large pool in the grounds of the family home.
Paramedics and police were called to the large mansion home after Mr Rees’ was spotted lying motionless in the pool.
He was understood to be the brother of the owner of the house and to have drowned just yards away from the family’s children were playing.
Pictured: The village of Churt in Surrey, where a man has been found dead in his swimming pool and police have opened an investigation
It was believed that a worried family member made the 999 call after stumbling across the 47-year-old who had suffered a suspected cardiac arrest in the water but it is not known how long he had been in the pool before being discovered.
An ambulance, first response car and an air ambulance helicopter rushed to the Saxon village following the distressing call. Paramedics began CPR to try to save the man’s life but despite their best efforts, he was pronounced dead just after 3pm.
Neighbours said that they saw the air ambulance circling above the property before landing.
Mr Rees was found in the pool in the grounds of Woodville, Churt, a village popular with walkers and a Hollywood hotspot as blockbusters are regularly filmed on the village doorstep. It is understood that the middle-aged man is the brother of the family who live at the £1.3 million pound home.
Elderly neighbour, 91-year-old Olivia Cotton, who lives just a few hundred yards from the scene of the tgragedy, said today: ‘I attend an OAP lunchoen every Monday and the woman who came to pick me up asked me about what had happened next door as they had heard somebody had died.
‘I remember seeing police and an air ambulance on Saturday afternoon but I didn’t realise it was for next door.
‘The people who used to live there were the parents who moved and gave the house to their daughter who now lives there with her husband and two small children.’
A spokesman for Surrey Police said today: ‘Officers were called by the South East Coast Ambulance Service to a property in Churt, near Farnham shortly before 4pm on Saturday, following the untimely death of a man.
‘A report is being is being prepared for the coroner, however at this time there is not believed to be any third party involvement.’
A post mortem examination is to be carried out on Mr Rees’ body to ascertain whether he died as a result of a cardiac arrest or drowning and an inquest will be opened and adjourned by the Surrey coroner.
Members of the family speaking at the home in Churt said that it was too early to talk about Mr Rees’ death.