'I wanted to be with her quickly': Anguished suicide note of cliff-fall mother who said daughter died in swim accident

By CLAIRE ELLICOTT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated: 19:12 EST, 4 May 2011

• Child's father claims he thought there was 'foul play'
• Mother claimed she had a brain tumour and asked husband for child over tragic weekend
  

A mother threw herself off Beachy Head after she claimed her four-year-old daughter drowned while they were swimming together in the sea.

Cathy Madden left a note saying she was heading to the notorious Sussex suicide spot because she wanted to be with her daughter Keira ‘quickly’ following a ‘horrible accident’, an inquest heard yesterday.

Police found her daughter’s lifeless body – carefully tucked up in bed at her home – after being alerted to Mrs Madden’s car at Beachy Head on July 3 last year.

Tragic: Cathy Madden said she was swimming in a pool with Keira, right, on her back but felt the little girl slip to find her unconscious

Yesterday, the note written by Mrs Madden, who had a history of depression, was read out at the inquest.

In it she described an accident while swimming that left Keira unconscious. She adds: ‘I wanted to bring her home and put her to bed…I wanted to pass away with her but couldn’t find the means so I left for Beachy Head so I could be with her quickly.’

The inquest heard that Mrs Madden, who was going through an acrimonious divorce and custody battle with Keira’s father Steven, had taken her daughter out of school that day, claiming she was ill.

Mrs Madden, who was on anti-depressants, is then thought to have taken her daughter to an unknown beach where it is believed the little girl died.

Mystery: Keira Madden's body was found tucked up in her bed

Pathologist Dr Olaf Biedrzycki said Keira had suffered no physical trauma and her death was most likely caused by drowning.

That same day, Mrs Madden, a former travel agent, threw herself off the 250-foot cliff. At almost the same time, police found Keira’s body in the £500,000 house they shared at Felpham, near Bognor, West Sussex.

Despite her mother’s suicide note, Keira’s death remains shrouded in mystery.

Shortly after her death, police questioned around 2,000 people at beaches across the area, but no witnesses were found.

Detective Sergeant Simon Bates said: ‘There are a number of questions left unanswered. Keira seemed to be a capable enough swimmer.

‘Why didn’t Cathy raise the alarm? Why did no one else see the incident? Why didn’t she call an ambulance?’

However, he added that there was never any sign that Keira was not well-looked after by her mother.

The inquest heard that Mrs Madden began suffering post-natal depression in 2006 and tried to take an overdose in August 2009.

At the time of her death, her husband of nine years, who lived in Hamburg, was trying to get permanent custody of their child.

Mr Madden, 42, a computer programmer, told the inquest he thought his estranged wife had killed their daughter before committing suicide.

Fall: Mrs Madden jumped from Beachy Head, Sussex, after penning a heart-rending note describing how she wanted to join daughter Keira who she said had accidentally drowned the previous day

He said: ‘Cathy was a good swimmer and knew how to resuscitate somebody. To me it doesn’t add up.

‘Everything she did seems to be pre-planned, pre-meditated. Keira was confident in the water.

‘It is sad to say but I believe she killed her.’

He described Keira as: ‘My cheeky monkey, a princess. Loved and loving, adored and adoring, happy and the bringer of happiness.’

Tragic: The body of four-year-old Keira was found in the house she shared with mother Cathy whose body was found on a beach after leaping from a cliff

Tributes: A woman leaves a floral tribute outside the home where four-year-old Keira Madden's body was found

He said he came back every three weeks and was due to see Keira on the day her body was discovered, but allowed her to stay with his wife after she had claimed she had an inoperable brain tumour and just months to live.

This was later proved to be false by the results of a post mortem examination and by hospital records.

Delivering an open verdict on Keira, West Sussex coroner Penelope Schofield said: ‘It is surprising that no witnesses came forward who saw them at the beach or even a mother in distress carrying a young child.

 ‘I am not satisfied to the required standard that she was unlawfully killed but there are so many unanswered questions that I cannot be sure that this was an accidental death.’

She ruled that Mrs Madden’s death was suicide.

Ross Hardy, a chaplain at Beachy Head, told the inquest he spoke to Mrs Madden before she ran and jumped off the cliff.

He said: ‘She started to run purposely towards the edge. She had no emotion on  her face.’