My husband died next to me in bed

Sabrina Walston, 39, awoke to a nightmare

- SASKIA MURPHY, TRACY GAYTON

As my husband, David, rolled over on to his back in bed, he let out a loud snore. ‘David!’ I said, prodding him in the side. I didn’t have to say anything else. ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled and rolled over on to his side.

David and I had been married for nine years. Although he’d always been a snorer and I’d become used to him waking me up in the middle of the night, sometimes, like now, it irritated me more than usual.

For the most part, we found the funny side of it. ‘I’m surprised the neighbours can’t hear you,’ I joked later that morning when we were having breakfast. Even our daughters, Elyse, then six, and Maddie, four, had awoken to their dad snoring from time to time.

Then, one evening in July 2019, David’s snoring woke me up yet again, but this time things were about to take a serious turn.

We were living on David’s family’s wheat and barley farm in Cambridgeshire at the time. David had sold his photography business to work hard in the fields all day, and his work kept him fit and strong. A doting dad, after a long day at work, he spent that evening snuggled up with the girls on the sofa. Later that night, he was so exhausted he fell into a deep sleep, which meant his snoring was as present as ever. So when it woke me, I gave him a prod. ‘Turn over,’ I told him, half asleep.

Rattling breath

But this time, he didn’t respond, and I realised his snoring sounded different to usual – his breath was rattling loudly in his chest.