UPDATE: Double death tragedy hits family

Chaplains failed to persuade a mother from throwing herself to her death off cliffs at almost exactly the same time as police found her four-year-old daughter dead at the family home, police have said.

Catherine Madden, 40, known as Cathy, was talked to by the counsellors before falling from Seven Sisters Cliff, Birling Gap, East Sussex, on Saturday afternoon.

At the same time as her death, police traced Mrs Madden's car, abandoned at Birling Gap, to her home in Roundle Avenue, Felpham, where they found her daughter's body.

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Officers discovered the body of Keira Madden in a bedroom of the detached house in a quiet, leafy street in the private Roundle estate..

A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: "It was almost simultaneous that they were entering the property as she fell off the cliff." She added that only the mother and the daughter lived at the Felpham address and no-one else was being sought in connection with the deaths.

The spokeswoman said that a post-mortem examination of Keira's body had been inconclusive and police were awaiting the results of toxicology tests to establish a cause of death.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Sloan, of Sussex Police, said that Mrs Madden had been going through a divorce from husband Steven, a self-employed computer expert who lives and works in Germany. Mr Madden would come back to the UK every three weeks for his access visits to Keira.

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Mr Sloan said: "The father is devastated by what has happened. This appears to be a tragic series of events. Our thoughts are with the family members at this very difficult time who are being supported by police family liaison officers.

"House-to-house inquiries are being conducted to establish the circumstances leading up to the child's death.

"We are still investigating the circumstances that led up to the death of Keira Madden and her mother, Cathy Madden. The post-mortem results for Keira have been inconclusive and we now have to wait for the results of toxicology tests. We are not looking for anyone else at this stage in relation to the death of Keira. This is a very difficult time for family members."

Mr Madden has paid tribute to his daughter. In a statement, he said: "My cheeky monkey, Princess. Loved and loving, adored and adoring, happy and the bringer of happiness. Friendly and full of friendship and the spreader of laughter, smiling and the giver of smiles. I'll see you again someday...Daddy.

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