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Down Hall Country House hotel where the pair were found drowned in the swimming pool
Down Hall Country House hotel where the pair were found drowned in the swimming pool. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Down Hall Country House hotel where the pair were found drowned in the swimming pool. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Inquest into Essex hotel pool deaths opens

This article is more than 10 years old
Man and woman found dead in swimming pool named as Komba Kpakiwa, 31, and Josephine Newahun Foday, 22

The man and woman found dead in the swimming pool of an Essex country house hotel have been named as Komba Kpakiwa, from Erith, Kent, and Josephine Newahun Foday, from London.

An inquest into their deaths, which police are not treating as suspicious, was opened and adjourned in Chelmsford on Tuesday afternoon.

Kpakiwa, 31, and Newahun Foday, 22, were found in the pool of Down Hall Country House hotel in Hatfield Heath shortly after 7.30pm on Saturday. Two members of staff who dived into the pool were unable to save the pair.

Essex police said a provisional postmortem examination found the deaths were consistent with drowning.

"Detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances leading up to their deaths but are treating them as non-suspicious," a police spokesman said. "Further routine tests will be undertaken and a report will be prepared for the HM coroner's inquest hearing."

Police said they were focusing on the relationship between the victims as part of their investigation.

The hotel's manager, Chris Falcus, said in a statement: "Both myself and the team at the hotel are deeply upset by what has happened. As soon as the alarm was raised, members of our staff did everything they could to try to save them. We are co-operating fully with the police investigation. The hotel is open to guests, however the pool area will remain closed for the foreseeable future."

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