A Vogue photographer who was found dead in a Hampstead Heath bathing pond drowned after her heart started beating irregularly, an inquest has heard.

Sussie Ahlburg, 51, was swimming in the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on the morning of Sunday, August 4 when she suffered an episode of cardiac arrhythmia and slipped under the water unnoticed by the two lifeguards on duty.

Ms Ahlburg, who lived in Holborn with her husband and children, had a heart condition and was advised by her cardiologist not to swim in open water, St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard today.

Senior coroner Mary Hassell concluded it was an accidental death.

For more, read next week’s Ham&High.