Saffron Cole-Nottage had gone for a stroll along the seafront with her 11-year-old daughter, Jessica, and the family dog.
It was slightly colder than it has been of late, a sensation heightened by a moderate breeze blowing in from the North Sea.
But otherwise, it was an entirely normal, seemingly innocuous Sunday evening in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Yet shortly after 8pm, the 32-year-old mother-of-three was dead.
Initial reports of the tragedy suggested that Saffron had somehow got her legs stuck between some boulders after falling, with emergency services unable to free her before the tide came in and she drowned.
The way that such an innocent stroll had so abruptly and inexplicably led to such a tragedy has left Saffron’s loved ones – and the wider community – stunned. And leaving many asking the simple question: how could this have happened?
And the circumstances of her death as described in those first reports begged further questions: how could she have become trapped so firmly that experienced rescue workers would be unable to free her?
And if that were the case, why was she not given breathing apparatus as the water engulfed her?
In an attempt to provide some answers to these questions, MailOnline last night retraced what are thought to have been Saffron and Jessica’s steps at the same time of night as their ill-fated walk with her dog, thought to be a grey Sharpei cross.
Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, died after falling between boulders at the beach
A rose placed on one of the rocks is the only evidence of the awful events in Lowestoft
‘No access’ signs are on the beach, presumably to stop people climbing on the huge boulders
Reporter NICK CRAVEN at the scene in Lowestoft last night where Saffron Cole-Nottage died
Just as on Sunday at the same time, the seafront in Lowestoft, Suffolk, was cold, dark and deserted just after 8pm.
But last night, at the same time in the evening, there was no rising tide around those boulders, no lapping water: the sea was some distance from the point among the rocks at which she is thought to have fallen.
And researching the tide tables throws further doubt over that drowning theory: high tide that evening was still some four hours away and it was closer to 6pm’s low tide during the fatal period.
Suffolk Police have revealed few facts about the circumstances and timing of the tragedy, other than to say that they were called shortly after 8pm and that there were no suspicious circumstances.
They haven’t commented on the cause of death.
As many locals have said on hearing of the tragedy on South Beach, it seemed the most unlikely place to pick for a dog walk at night, especially with a child.
The only light, other than the powerful torches we brought along, came from the street lamps on the Esplanade above, making the journey even more hazardous.
On its coastal side, the ‘path’ cuts a zig zag shape, caused by the metal piles shoring it up. And there are deep dark voids between the huge boulders.
There are deep dark voids between the huge boulders on the beach in Lowestoft
Saffron is thought to have grown up in the town before moving away to Kent and then moving back
Suffolk Police have revealed few facts about the circumstances and timing of the tragedy
But Saffron is thought to have grown up in the town before moving away to Kent, where she worked in a pub, before recently moving back.
She may have felt she was sufficiently familiar with that shore’s potential hazards to navigate it safely, even in the dark.
And indeed according to one of Saffron’s local friends, she was in the habit of walking her dog on this stretch of beach at night – it was clearly familiar terrain for her.
As we retraced her steps, we found that, as you leave the town’s Esplanade, the going along South Beach becomes increasingly uninviting.
In order to progress along Saffron’s route, we had to step over a small chain fence with a safety warning sign.
Similar ‘No access’ signs are at the other end of this section of beach, presumably to stop people climbing on the huge granite boulders which were shipped in from Norway and placed along the seawall in 2014 to combat coastal erosion.
Around 100 yards from the no entry sign, we scrambled up the shingle and onto the ledge beneath the point on the Esplanade where friends and relatives had placed floral tributes to Saffron.
A local we spoke to yesterday had described the surface as ‘like an ice rink’ and walking along it did bear this out: the ledge, slicked in brine, moss and puddles of seawater, was incredibly slippery and we both nearly lost our footing several times.
A sign on a barrier prevents access to a section of the beach in Lowestoft, Suffolk
Police were called just after 8pm on Sunday and said there were no suspicious circumstances
The boulders were shipped in from Norway and placed along the seawall to combat erosion
Flowers left at the scene in Lowestoft in memory of Saffron who died on Sunday night
It’s easy to see how someone, even if they knew this stretch of coast well, might slip and fall here, perhaps sustaining a head injury from those rocks.
Certainly a child of 11 would struggle to pull an adult back to the relative safety of the walkway if they had lost consciousness among the rocks. And in that event they would struggle to find any help at hand, our experience suggests.
Because last night at the same time as Saffron fell, there were very few people around.
At one point we encountered a group of youths furtively sharing a cannabis joint on the sand. They appeared oblivious that there had been a mysterious death here just 72 hours earlier.
Later a man was playfully wrestling with his Staffordshire Bull terrier over a stick. He had not been here on Sunday, he said, and knew nothing of the tragedy.
Other than these two encounters we didn’t see another person between 7.30 and 9pm.
Saffron’s partner Mike Wheeler – the father of Saffron’s eight-month-old baby Hudson as well as a second daughter, Jasmine, 7 – wrote yesterday: ‘The world is so cruel and to take you in this freak horrific way will not sit well with me for the rest of my life.’
A single red rose placed on one of the rocks was the only evidence of the awful events that happened here three nights earlier.
Friends of Saffron have asked whether the emergency services could not have done more to save her.
Those questions may have to wait until a coroner’s inquest to be fully answered.
