A British wife has drowned trying to save her husband after he apparently suffered a fatal heart attack in the swimming pool of their luxury villa in France.
Diana Shamash, 80, jumped into the water fully dressed to try to help property tycoon David, 82, at the couple’s holiday home near Montpellier.
But she was dragged under the weight of her clothes, police in southern France said.
The couple were discovered by friends who arrived for dinner at the secluded property last Saturday. It is feared they may have been in the pool for days as they were last heard from the previous Wednesday evening.
Diana Shamash, 80, pictured, jumped into the water fully clothed to try to help property tycoon David, 82, at the couple’s holiday home near Montpellier
“The house is far away from other people so no one could have heard their cries for help,” an investigative source told the Daily Mail.
‘But what we now know is that Ms Shamash was fully clothed and wearing her shoes when she jumped into the pool to save her husband after he suffered a suspected heart attack.
“She no doubt found it very difficult to float under these circumstances and sank in the water.”
Detectives working on the case have pieced together what happened using autopsies performed on Thursday. “The timeline of events appears to rule out any foul play. It was a very tragic accident,” the source said.
One line of inquiry is whether the pool was heated, as cold water is a notorious killer in hot weather. It has a deep end over 7 feet and a diving board.
The area is dotted with million-pound properties, many owned by Britons drawn to the Mediterranean climate.
The couple were discovered by friends who arrived for dinner at the secluded property last Saturday. It is feared they may have been in the pool for days as they were last heard from the previous Wednesday evening. Pictured: David Shamash
Maison Shamash, near the picturesque market town of Gignac, is set in secluded countryside protected by trees. Pictured: A map of the area
Maison Shamash, near the picturesque market town of Gignac, is set in secluded countryside protected by trees. There is a lavender farm nearby and small clusters of properties. But all are well out of earshot of Villa Maria, one of the couple’s many properties.
Mr Shamash was director of ten property companies with assets of more than £5million and secretary of four others again worth the same amount.
He and his wife also owned a sprawling country farmhouse in the village of South Fawley, Berkshire, and a flat above the official Tintin shop in Covent Garden, central London.
The couple visited their French vacation home three or four times a year for three-week breaks. They were due to return to the UK next Monday and were already planning their next trip when they died.
A close friend from South Fawley said: ‘They phoned to say they had booked flights back in October on the Wednesday before they were found. It’s just a tragedy. They loved France, they wanted to spend as much time there as possible. TV here [in South Fawley] is in French, and they speak it fluently.
Another friend added: ‘Honestly you wouldn’t meet a more dedicated couple. They were devoted to each other, such a beautiful couple.
Luxury: The pool where the couple were found after Diana rushed to her husband’s aid. The couple had two children
In recent years, the couple had invested their fortune in good works by establishing the charity Covent Garden Group Foundation. It states its goals as being the “relief of world poverty, but with an emphasis on Southeast Asia” as well as “the treatment and prevention of blindness”. Footage also shows Ms Shamash on a mission abroad with Action Against Hunger. Mr Shamash, an Oxford graduate, ran his property empire with his son Anthony, 56, while his daughter Nicola, 58, lived down their road in South Fawley.
The devastated children flew to France to identify the bodies of their parents this week.
Mr. and Mrs. Shamash also adored their five grandchildren. “They had so much to live for,” a friend said. “He was a big noise in London and always worked from home. She was still in the garden. She had her own studio where she made frames. They were as good as each other. It’s just awful.
The couple were popular in South Fawley, where they donated fruit from their trees, grapes and eggs from the eight chickens they raised.
The animal lovers also had an alpaca, nine sheep and three cats, while their gardens on the property worth an estimated £1.2million would be the envy of neighbours.
