Coroner probes response times in beach rocks death

Saffron Cole-Nottage was walking her dog when she slipped and fell headfirst on to rocks as the tide was rising

A coroner is investigating whether delays in mobilising the fire service contributed to the death of a woman who drowned after falling headfirst on to sea defence rocks on a beach.

Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, was walking with her daughter and their dog in Lowestoft when she slipped twice and became trapped among the rocks on Sunday, 2 February.

A pre-inquest hearing heard emergency services managed to free Ms Cole-Nottage, but were unable to resuscitate her. A council official said there was evidence of intoxication.

Suffolk coroner Darren Stewart said an initial 999 call was made at 19:52 GMT and an ambulance was dispatched at 19:57, but the fire service was not mobilised until 20:10.

The coroner said Ms Cole-Nottage's death "touches on matters of significant public interest"

The coroner said the fire service arrived on scene, on The Esplanade near the Royal Green, at 20:22 and "there's a three-minute period where I assume the firefighters are moving to the location".

He said a decision was made to "extricate" Ms Cole-Nottage, who was "head-first, wedged between rocks", at 20:25 and this took just 20 seconds.

The coroner said: "A member of the public rings in and it goes to the ambulance service.

"It takes quite a period of time, 18 minutes, for the fire service to be called.

"She's still responsive, calling out and the like, and that's reported around 20:00.

"With the report at 20:05 being that she seems to be fully submerged.

"You have a bunch of burly firefighters who are waiting to respond and when they get that call they jump in their vehicle, career down the road and within minutes they pull her out."

He said he was "working through how long it took to get to that point to see if there's been a missed opportunity to rescue this lady".

Tim Pole, for East Suffolk Council, said there was a "significant degree of intoxication" and "that's an issue we're going to need to grapple with".

The coroner said the post-mortem examination "did find Ms Cole-Nottage has died of drowning".

'Minutes'

Mr Stewart stressed that there was "no indication of anybody not doing their very best" and added he was keen to look at the triage system when calls are received by the East of England Ambulance Service.

He said: "I'm mindful that these are actions being taken in real time. We're talking about minutes, we're not talking about lengthy delays."

The inquest will also review the presence of signage and barriers, as well as public access to the site of the incident.

The family of Ms Cole-Nottage, who lived in Lowestoft, did not attend Friday's hearing at Suffolk Coroner's Court in Ipswich.

The coroner said the family were in the process of getting legal representation, and he would make a decision on whether the inquest would be heard with a jury after seeking their views.

The next hearing is due to take place on 29 January with a full inquest date yet to be fixed.