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Post by Patrick on Jun 1, 2009 12:27:19 GMT
Breaking news folks!
The bodies of a man, woman and young boy have been found at the foot of Beachy Head in East Sussex.
The coastguard alerted police that two bodies had been seen at about 2020 BST on Sunday, but the search did not begin until first light on Monday.
The identities of the three people have not yet been confirmed, but they are not thought to be local.
Sussex Police said the boy was thought to be about five-years-old. The deaths are not being treated as suspicious.
The bodies are being recovered from the beach by a coastguard team.
It's been quite quiet there for a long time.
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Post by housesparrow on Jun 1, 2009 14:21:06 GMT
Presumbly the police think it was an accident. I mean if one or other of the parents deided to take the family with them, the police would be treating this as "suspicious", surely?
A terrible tragedy, whatever happened.
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Post by Patrick on Jun 2, 2009 9:48:21 GMT
The parents of a five-year-old boy who had died from natural causes jumped to their deaths from Beachy Head with his body in a rucksack, it is believed.
Rescuers, who are not treating the deaths as suspicious, found a second rucksack nearby full of toys.
Chief Insp Dick Coates said police knew the identities of the family, who are not believed to be from Sussex, but had not yet talked to their next of kin.
"Later today we will be able to clarify the circumstances fully," he said.
"But I need to do what is right with the relatives first."
A silver Volkswagen camper van was recovered from a roadside car park about 200 yards (183m) from the cliff edge and taken to Eastbourne for forensic examination.
Coastguards on routine patrol first spotted what they thought were two bodies 400ft (120m) down the cliff face on Sunday evening.
The two rucksacks were discovered on Monday and the bodies recovered by 1400 BST.
Ch Insp Coates said it had been very traumatic for the emergency services.
"Having to recover bodies from the bottom of the cliffs is always a traumatic ordeal," he said.
"But with a child being involved it does make it a lot more sensitive for the people who are doing it."
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Post by housesparrow on Jun 2, 2009 13:26:02 GMT
I once met a woman who refused to go anywhere near any cliff top. Her family believed this stems from when she was in the Sussex Police Force and quite often had to deal with situations like this.
There is apparently now a minister at Beachy Head most of the time, but s/he can only help those who are prepared to talk.
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Post by Patrick on Jun 2, 2009 15:14:43 GMT
Such is the force that can be generated by the fall (someone once told me) that they have to pull lumps of chalk out of the bodies!  Sorry. |
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