INQUEST: Woman found dead at Seaford home

A woman was found dead at her Seaford home by her closest friend, an inquest has heard.
Inquests. PNL-151014-120252001Inquests. PNL-151014-120252001
Inquests. PNL-151014-120252001

Seventy-eight-year-old Sylvia Dingwall was found in a bedroom of her house in Hawth Park Road on the morning of September 3 by her friend Barbara Stubbs.

The two women had been friends for more than 20 years and had planned to have lunch together.

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But Mrs Dingwall, a retired art teacher, had suffocated herself and left suicide notes.

An inquest at Eastbourne on Thursday heard Mrs Dingwall had constant pain in her chest and had also taken a very large amount of painkillers.

She also had a history of taking drugs overdoses and had suffered with anxiety.

She had also made contact with a clinic in Switzerland to discuss ending her life.

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Mrs Stubbs said Mrs Dingwall, who was described as a warm and considerate person, was more like a sister to her and she had no idea her friend was intending to take her own life.

She was let into Mrs Dingwall’s house by neighbours when she got no response from knocking on the door.

“I was terribly shocked to see her lying on the bed dead,” she told the inquest.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze recorded a verdict of suicide.