James Morrison’s wife’s provisional cause of death confirmed by coroner

Musician James Morrison discovered his wife at their home in Whitminster, Gloucestershire, an inquest into her death has heard.

Gillian Catchpole, 45, was found unresponsive at the property she shared with Morrison and their two young daughters, on the morning of Friday 5 January.

Morrison received a call from a friend who was concerned after being unable to get hold of her, The Telegraph reports.

The singer then found his wife, mother to their two children Ada Rose, five, and Elsie, 15. Following the arrival of emergency services, she was pronounced dead at the scene at 9.37am.

Police officers had reportedly been asked to conduct a welfare check on the mother-of-two a few days prior.

Coroner Roland Wooderson was told by police that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, during the hearing on Tuesday 9 January.

Pathologist Dr Terry Jones gave the provisional cause of Catchpole’s death as hanging, after carrying out the post-mortem examination.

The couple first met when she moved into Morrison’s mother’s home as a lodger, when he was 17.

Morrison, who rose to fame in 2006 with his debut single “You Give Me Something”, previously described meeting Catchpole as a “fairytale” and revealed he had tried to impress her by serenading her with Stevie Wonder songs.

“When she moved in, I started singing all the songs off that album to her. I was playing all of that stuff on the acoustic guitar,” Morrison, 39, told the podcast White Wine Question Time.

“I’m not like: ‘I love romance.’ But I do find certain things romantic and the fact that we met each other the way we did. It’s like a little fairytale or something.”

Despite their instant connection, Catchpole had a boyfriend when they first met. It wasn’t until two years later that they got together, and married in 2006.

Morrison revealed in 2015 that he had taken time out of the music industry after his father, older brother and nephew all died within three years of one another.

“Spiritually, I had the wind kicked out of me. I stopped believing the world was good,” he told The Independent at the time.

Catchpole had reportedly been suffering from health problems and underwent a kidney transplant in late 2022.

She wrote on her cafe’s business page in November 2023: “What a difference a year makes. This time last year I was having my kidney transplant and a year on after many ups downs and heartache I am [here] owning my own business.

“At the start of this year I myself never saw this coming. For anyone out there struggling I can tell you from experience it does get better. Thanks to my amazing family and friends that have been there through it all and picked up the many pieces of me and my life. You all know who you are. Today I feel blessed.”

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