Post-mortems carried out on Essex flats plunge girls

Post-mortems were carried out today on two teenage girls who fell to their deaths from the 11th floor of a block of flats.

Lisa Utton from Essex and Danielle Waddington from Southend, died of multiple injuries following their 120ft plunge from Cecil Court in Jones Close, Southend, on Sunday.

Toxicology tests would now be carried out on the pair, an Essex Police spokesman said, in order to determine possible levels of alcohol or drugs in the pair. It could be up to six weeks before the test results are known.

Seventy minutes before Sunday’s tragedy, the teenagers walked out of the accident and emergency department in Southend Hospital about half a mile from the tower block.

Police said the girls had been picked up by an ambulance in an apparently distressed and drunken state near the seafront.

But the hospital said they had walked out 11 minutes after arriving and before they could be seen by doctors.

A hospital spokeswoman said inquiries would take place to establish that staff had followed correct procedures.