Inquest Into TV Fitness Trainer Angie Dowds' Beachy Head Death

Inquest Starts Into TV Fitness Trainer's Beachy Head Death

An inquest will be held on Thursday into the death of an award-winning television fitness trainer who was found dead at Beachy Head.

The body of Angie Dowds, from ITV's weight-loss challenge show The Biggest Loser, was retrieved from the base of the renowned 535ft (163m) suicide spot by coastguards.

The tough-talking 42-year-old had appeared on the programme since 2005 along with host Davina McCall and personal trainer Richard Callender.

On Twitter after the death, McCall wrote: "Rest in peace Angie Dowds @angechops. So so sad."

Ms Dowds' agency, London-based Independent Talent, said she had touched and inspired many people but had battled "her own personal demons".

According to reports, Ms Dowds, who lived in London, had contended with drink and drug problems and is believed to have parted from her lesbian partner.

Witnesses reported seeing a woman leap or fall from the top of the chalk cliffs near Eastbourne, East Sussex, just after 4.30pm on November 20 last year.

Coastguards rescued her body from the cliff base about an hour later and formal identification was later carried out to confirm it was Ms Dowds, the 2006 Personal Trainer of the Year Great Britain.

Sussex Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death as tributes poured in for a woman described as a "successful trainer, mentor and inspiration".

Paddy Cunningham, a Biggest Loser contestant and friend of Ms Dowds, said at the time: "Personally I feel such a sense of loss, as though I have lost a beautiful, powerful and sincerely loving older sister."

The inquest will be held at Eastbourne Magistrates' Court.

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