Clinking champagne flutes in a hot tub with the man she called her soulmate, newlywed Abigail Garside appeared to have everything to live for.
A champion horse rider who had travelled to far-flung destinations around the world – and who was weeks away from starting a new chapter by moving to Australia with the ‘man of my dreams’.
Their plans were so far advanced that she had even arranged for their beloved dachund dogs to come with them.
But just nine hours after sharing jubilant photos toasting her first wedding anniversary to husband Samuel with her many friends, the 30-year-old was found dead in a park in the centre of Harrogate, North Yorks.
A passer-by found her body shortly after 6am on August 18 – the following morning after Mrs Garside had been celebrating her marriage milestone at a luxury spa retreat.
News of her death stunned her family, friends, and the close-knit horse-riding community in which she was adored.
Mrs Garside’s sister Sophie Lightbown encapsulated the shock of her loss in a heartfelt post: ‘My heart is broken into a million pieces, knowing I’m not going to see her beautiful face one more time or just to be able to call her for a chat.
‘I can’t even describe the pain I’m in. Heaven gained an angel way before her time.’
Abigail Garside, 30, a gifted dressage rider, had spent the day marking the milestone with husband Samuel Garside at the exclusive 300-acre Rudding Park resort and spa
Mrs Garside’s body was discovered in gardens in the centre of the spa town early the following morning on August 18. Just hours earlier she wrote: ‘Lovely day in Harrogate celebrating our first wedding anniversary with my love’
The day before her body was found, Abbey and her husband Sam were posting on social media about their luxurious time away at the Rudding Park Hotel in Harrogate
Mr Garside posted photos of their time together on Facebook, declaring: ‘1 year since you became my wife!! I love you more and more everyday, happy anniversary’
It was a year on from the couple’s big day on August 17, 2024 at the Crow Wood Hotel and Spa resort in Burnley, Lancashire
Mrs Garside, an accomplished dressage rider who triumphed at the prestigious Horse of the Year Show in 2019, was laid to rest last week, her final journey being in a horse-drawn carriage
The fullest picture yet of what happened emerged this week as a coroner’s court released an update: Abigail had been found hanged.
With police having already ruled out any suspicious circumstances, this left her shocked family and friends with even more upsetting details to process.
And it made the question the question they had already been asking themselves even more compelling: how could a young woman with the world seemingly at her feet suddenly be gone?
One family friend told The Daily Mail this week: ‘What happened with Abigail just goes to show the wisdom in what The Samaritans always say – that a person’s inner distress isn’t always outwardly visible.
‘It’s been enormously upsetting for everyone who knew her and that’s almost been compounded by so many who knew her all believing she was so happy.’
Hours before the discovery of her body in Harrogate’s Montpellier Gardens, Abigail and car fanatic Samuel had checked into the exclusive 300-acre Rudding Park resort and spa nearby.
They were there to toast one year since they married at the lavish five-star Crow Wood hotel near Burnley, Lancs – described then by Mrs Garside on social media as the day ‘I get to marry the man of my dreams’.
Mr Garside, meanwhile, had gushed about his ‘beautiful bride’ and his joy at marrying his sweetheart after four years of dating.
At Rudding Park, the happy couple beamed in their sunglasses, raising glasses of fizz from a steaming hot tub.
They also took in the charm of the North Yorkshire spa town on that sunny August day, visiting the iconic Betty’s tea room and walking its famous cobbled street.
On the evening of August 17, Mrs Garside shared pictures and wrote on Facebook: ‘Lovely day in Harrogate celebrating our first wedding anniversary with my love.’
Mr Garside echoed the sentiment, sharing wedding photos and writing: ‘1 year since you became my wife!!
‘I love you more and more every day, happy anniversary.’
It had sounded like a blissful and romantic weekend away. Yet in the dawn light just hours later, the dream had turned into tragedy.
Mr Garside had gushed about his ‘beautiful bride’ and his joy at marrying his sweetheart after four years of dating
Their plans were so far advanced that she had even arranged for their beloved dachund dogs to come with them on their move to Australia
News of her death stunned her family, friends, and the close-knit horse-riding community in which she was adored
At 6.15am on August 18, Mrs Garside’s lifeless body was discovered in public gardens near Montpellier Parade, in the heart of Harrogate’s town centre.
Mr Garside broke the news in a subsequent Facebook post – using a photo of his smiling wife taken only the previous day.
He wrote: ‘My absolute world, my best friend and my beautiful darling wife.
‘I will love you forever and you will never leave my heart xxx.’
Mrs Garside’s sudden death was a complete shock, according to friends who knew her.
They described a fit and healthy thrill-seeker who scaled peaks including Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, Snowdon and the Old Man of Coniston, plunged into wild lakes, and hurled herself out of planes to skydive.
One friend told how Mrs Garside loved to travel with her husband by her side. They had skied in the Alps, and flown on luxury vacations to Bali and Vietnam.
The globetrotting couple had been due to honeymoon in the Caribbean earlier this year – only for Mr Garside to break his leg two days before in a ‘freak accident’.
He had joked online how the couple were so in sync that his wife had sustained the exact same injury a year earlier.
Mr Garside captioned pictures of the pair’s plastered limbs: ‘When you find someone just as accident-prone as you.’
Despite their dream honeymoon being cancelled, and the resultant loss of thousands of pounds, the happy couple were planning a secret – a brand new life in Australia.
They had secured visas, signed a lease and were preparing to move to Melbourne in October.
Mrs Garside revealed the news on Facebook with a photo of the city skyline: “We’ve been keeping a secret. This is our new future home.”
Mr Garside added: “It’s been a long 6 month process but we are officially Australia bound! Visas approved. House secured. A whole new chapter and adventure begins.’
The couple even sourced pet passports for Ms Garside’s beloved dachshunds and marketed their ‘beautiful’ three-bedroom new-build in Blackburn, Lancs, for rent at £1,600 a month.
They listed furniture and belongings for sale online, including a £3,000 six-person hot tub, dining table, sofas and even a ravioli stamp set.
Mrs Garside’s Porsche, with its personalised registration plate, remains parked outside the three-bed home, bought for £245,000 in 2021.
A friend of Mrs Garside told the Daily Mail that the couple had been counting down the days to their Melbourne move.
They said: ‘Both of them were so excited about moving to Australia. They had been back and forth and fell in love with the country.
‘Abbey would talk about it constantly and they were over the moon when Sam secured his work visa.
‘They had their whole future ahead of them.
‘None of us can believe that just a day after celebrating their first wedding anniversary, she’s gone.
‘It’s beyond heartbreaking.’
Mrs Garside, an accomplished dressage rider who triumphed at the prestigious Horse of the Year Show in 2019, was laid to rest last week.
Appropriately, her final journey was by horse-drawn carriage as hundreds lined the streets.
Yet, as mourners gathered outside Immanuel Church in the village of Feniscowles, Lancs, there was fresh anguish.
Two women were reportedly struck by a motorist who allegedly ‘drove his car into a crowd’.
Friends of the couple have flooded social media with messages of shock and sorrow
Mrs Garside’s sister, Sophie, said she was ‘in disbelief’ when the driver pushed mourners ‘out of the way with his bumper’.
She told her local newspaper: ‘As we laid my sister to rest on Tuesday, this man decided he couldn’t wait five minutes and continued to drive his car into the crowd of people, hitting two women to persist on pushing through rather than waiting.
‘It was totally disrespectful and uncalled for.
‘I don’t think we could quite believe it was happening [they] didn’t injure them, just pushed them out of the way with the bumper… everyone was in disbelief at the vile man and how disgusting his behaviour was.’
Lancashire Police said it was investigating and attempting to trace the driver.
After the funeral, Mr Garside told friends: ‘Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the hundreds of you who came to pay your respects to Abbey.
‘I know if she was looking down our final walk, she would have been in disbelief.
‘I couldn’t have asked for anything better, she brought the sun out for us, and got her final horse ride as a princess.’
At a brief inquest opening hearing this week, North Yorkshire coroner’s court confirmed Mrs Garside’s provisional cause of death as hanging.
A full inquest, likely to be held next year, may eventually shed more light on the circumstances that led to Mrs Garside’s death.
In the meantime a memorial page set up in her honour has already raised more than £2,500 for mental health charity Mind and the Dogs Trust, both charities described as ‘close to her heart’.
*The Samaritans helpline is on 116 123 and is open 24 hours
