Children who disappeared from beach almost certainly drowned

Two children whose bodies were recovered from the sea two weeks after they disappeared from a beach almost certainly drowned, a coroner said yesterday. Tom Loughlin, four, and his sister Jodi Loughlin, six, vanished from Holme Beach near Hunstanton, Norfolk, on 18 August. Jodi's body was found on 30 August on a beach near Sheringham, Norfolk. Tom's body was found two days later.

Opening an inquest into their deaths, the Norwich district coroner, William Armstrong, said a post-mortem examination showed that the probable cause of both deaths was submersion in water. Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Carey who carried out the examinations had found no suspicious injuries on either body. He was still waiting for the results of toxicology tests before he could be 100 per cent certain of the cause of the deaths.