The family of a woman found dead at the bottom of cliffs at Sidmouth said they will always remember her as a ‘smiling very, very happy person and a beautiful girl’.

Jacqueline Box, 30, of Lindemann Close, Sidmouth, died in July 2013 from multiple injuries after falling from the cliff at Jacobs Ladder.

Deputy coroner John Tomalin said there was insufficient evidence to suggest Mrs Box had taken her own life, saying the reason for her death ‘remained a mystery’.

He recorded a narrative verdict, saying it would not be right to speculate on what happened, and incorrect to describe Mrs Box’s death as an accident or suicide.

Mr Tomalin said: “I do not feel I have sufficient evidence to support a conclusion [of suicide] because whilst Jacqui was upset there appears to be no other history of how she was that day. It remains a mystery of how she ended up at the bottom of those cliffs.”

He added: “I know that Jacquie was upset, from the statements we have. They suggest something had upset her and whatever it was she had taken it badly but didn’t appear to want to talk about it with family or with others and we still don’t know what that was.”

In reaching his conclusion, Mr Tomalin said: “I have given a narrative conclusion that Jacqui was in a state of anxiety and died from multiple injuries from falling from cliffs onto Sidmouth beach.”

Mrs Box’s father, Mark Pace, described his daughter as a ‘splendid girl’.

“It was a great loss to the family,” he said. “She was a giver, not a taker. She loved people and did what she could for them.”

He thanked police for the ‘sensitive way’ officers dealt with his daughter’s death.

The inquest heard how teaching assistant Mrs Box became upset while at work at St Martin’s Primary School, Cranbrook.

She refused to reveal the reason behind her distress and was taken home. She was told her job would be waiting once she felt well enough to return.

Her family arranged an appointment with a psychologist but Mrs Box, a mum-of-one, went out for a walk before the meeting and never returned.

After family carried out an over-night search of Sidmouth, her body was discovered the next morning at the foot of the cliffs at Jacob’s Ladder.