Uncertainty still surrounds the death of a woman whose body was found in a drainage ditch in Eastbourne.

Police had initially suspected that Julie Cavaliere had been murdered and an open verdict was recorded at her inquest.

The 40-year-old alcoholic was three times the drink-drive limit when she was found submerged in Hampden Park.

Forensic pathologist Dr Rob Chapman told the hearing that alcohol would have hastened her death in cold water.

He told the Eastbourne inquest: "On occasions, people who have taken alcohol and fall into cold water can die rapidly.

"It is a combination of shock and cold water getting into the airway that causes a cardiac arrest, as happened in this case."

But how Mrs Cavaliere, of Lakeside Court, Lakelands Close, Eastbourne, came to be in the stream is still a mystery.

Her body had numerous bruises, grazes and scars, many of them old but foul play was ruled out after an extensive police inquiry.

Mrs Cavaliere was a well-known alcoholic in Hampden Park, who shared her addiction with husband Lee Cavaliere.

At the inquest, their five-year marriage was described as "extremely volatile" with more than 200 calls made to police in the previous three years.

In the months before her death, Mrs Cavaliere had started an affair with alcoholic Paul Reed, who lived at the same block of flats.

The pair were seen by several people on Friday, June 21, last year, the day she is believed to have died.

Mr Reed, now of Cornfield Terrace, Eastbourne, said he met Mrs Cavaliere as he walked to Alldays in The Hydneye to buy alcohol.

She accompanied him to the late-night store where he bought a bottle of Bells whisky before they headed to a cafe for a drink.

Afterwards, they walked towards their flats but stopped off in Dallington Road where they drank some of the whisky.

Mr Reed then left, saying he was going to buy more drink, leaving Mrs Cavaliere with his coat.

Later that afternoon, Mr Reed was taken to the hospital after being found lying in the road drunk.

He told the inquest he had been trying to retrieve a bicycle from a ditch 500m from where Mrs Cavaliere was found dead.

Two days later, on Sunday, June 23, a boy spotted Mrs Cavaliere's part-submerged body in the ditch in Dallington Road.

It was close to where she and Mr Reed had sat two days earlier on the bank.

Mr Reed was arrested on suspicion of murder but, despite extensive inquiries headed by Detective Chief Inspector Martyn Underhill, was later ruled out.

Recording an open verdict, East Sussex coroner Alan Craze said suicide and unlawful killing could not be proven.