A FAMILY friend of a woman, who was found drowned near to a seaside pier, has spoken of how he had been catching up with her just days before she died.

The body of Charlotte Root-Reed, 27, who lived with friends in Gorelands Lane, Chalfont St Giles, was found floating in sea water off the coast at Eastbourne, Sussex, on Sunday 25 February.

Miss Root-Reed, a care worker who spent most of her childhood years in Chalfont St Giles, had gone to Eastbourne for a weekend away but disappeared after leaving for a walk on the beach that morning.

Shocked neighbour Frederick Nolan, also of Gorelands Lane, had known Miss Root-Reed since she was a little girl.

Mr Nolan, a Chalfont St Giles parish councillor, said: "I last saw her on the Wednesday before she died.

"She was saying ordinary things like how her car wouldn't start and as far as I was concerned everything about her was perfectly in order.

"She always was the sweetest little girl. I hadn't seen her for a very long time we were just sort of catching up really."

Eastbourne's Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crew were contacted by Sussex police at about 10.30am after Miss Root-Reed's body was spotted 30 feet from the pier. Attempts to resuscitate her failed and she was pronounced dead at Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne. A spokesman for Eastbourne Coroner's Office said an inquest was due in the near future.