A mother has told of her grief after her second son died from drowning.
In June, 2000, David Brett, 42, of Little Oakley, died while going to the aid of a girl on Dovercourt seafront.
Just over two years later, his brother Eddie Brett, 36, was found dead on a beach.
Eddie Brett, of Beaumont Avenue, Clacton, was found by a member of the public washed up on the beach at Holland-on-Sea at about 9.30pm on August 15.
His mother, Margaret Taylor, said: "He was a nice little boy, very funny. I don't think I can still believe it."
Mother-of-six Mrs Taylor added that Eddie, who had one child, spent the first few years of his life in Harwich.
His uncle, Alan, also drowned several years ago in an accident while he was with the Army.
At an inquest at Weeley yesterday, Essex coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray heard that tests revealed Eddie Brett had been drinking to an extent to where he was almost three times the legal limit for driving.
His girlfriend, Shelley Odd, told the hearing how on August 15 they had been to the beach at Clacton.
Mr Brett could not swim but he had been paddling.
She said she was not sure what he had been drinking or how much. But when they parted at about 7pm, he had not seemed drunk.
Earlier in the day, there had been an argument between Mr Brett and her ex-boyfriend and later they had had words about this.
A post-mortem examination showed death was due to drowning.
A suggestion that he might have been on a breakwater and slipped was dismissed by the coroner as no-one had seen him and there was no evidence.
Mrs Beasley-Murray recorded an open verdict.
Published Thursday October 24, 2002
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