The wife of the late Dr Michael Mosley has shared details of her last goodbye with her husband – and a “distressing” picture of his body that she can never “unsee”.
Michael died on June 5 on the Greek island of Symi. He had left wife Clare on the beach and headed off on a walk back to their friend’s villa, where they were staying.
He took water, an umbrella to shade himself from the sun but, crucially, no mobile phone. Hours later, when Clare returned to the villa, she immediately knew something was up.
The walk should’ve taken Michael an hour, but he hadn’t returned home. A major search and rescue operation was launched, and the doctor’s body found on June 9.
Wife of Dr Michael Mosley reveals last moments with her husband
Now, in her first interview since her husband’s death, his wife Dr Clare Bailey has revealed her last goodbye with her husband, exactly how she found out he had died, and the picture of his dead body printed in the papers that will haunt her forever.
Opening up, Claire Mosley told the Daily Mail their last goodbye was “just an ordinary exchange of words as he went off for his walk”. She described it as “very banal” and added: “I don’t think there was even a kiss.”
The couple’s four children flew out to Symi to join the search and rescue efforts, and Clare said she never refused to give up hope that he would be found alive.
‘They’ve found him’
However, four days after she last saw her husband came a call that shattered her entire world. Clare said she was back at her friend’s villa when a call came in from a member of the British consulate staff.
Crying, she revealed: “She said: ‘They’ve found him.‘ And that was it. We put our arms around each other and there were hugs and tears. And after that, we all slumped. I could make no sense of anything.”
He was 67 when he died.
Picture of Michael’s body published
In the aftermath of his death, which was headline news across the world, Clare saw one picture of her husband’s body that she says she’ll never forget.
There was one photo of Michael on a stretcher with an arm sticking out.
“There was one photo of Michael on a stretcher with an arm sticking out and, having seen it, I could not unsee it. It was so distressing, so poignant,” she said sadly.
‘Shock’ at the funeral home for wife of Dr Michael Mosley
She did, however, find “comfort” in the fact that Michael died “in a very beautiful place”. She also takes comfort in the fact that he “so very nearly made it”, with his body being found metres from a resort where he could’ve found help.
Clare also recalled sitting with her late husband in the funeral home – another experience she found comforting. Although she said that she was “shocked to see his name on the coffin. The finality of it. I had not fully computed it.”
Cause of death
An inquest into his death back in the UK revealed Dr Michael Mosley’s death was “most likely attributable either to heat stroke (accidental) or non-identified pathological cause”.
Read more: Huge sum Dr Michael Mosley left to wife Clare after his tragic death
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