Search for woman swept out to sea stood down

A major search for a 36-year-old woman believed to have been swept out to sea following a night out has been called off because of appalling weather.

Solent Coastguard stood down the search and rescue mission at about 9am following an exhaustive search of Brighton beach throughout the night and during first light this morning, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.

Sussex Police called Solent Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at 2.24am to tell them that a woman had gone into the water opposite the Digital nightclub, just west of the town's Palace Pier.

The woman, believed to be from Brighton, left the seafront nightclub and was walking along the beach between West Pier and Palace Pier with a man she knew when she ran into the water and was almost immediately swept off by a large wave, a police spokesman said.