The coroner's summing up was very short, but very much to the point.
“Gentlemen,” he said. “I am sure you have paid careful attention to the evidence that has been tendered, and it is now your duty to put on record how, in your opinion, deceased came to meet with her death. You can say it was a case of wilful murder, or it was one of self-destruction, or one of merely accidental death. And if you do not hold definitely to any of these views and are at all uncertain, then you can just bring in a verdict of ‘found drowned.’”
“Of course, you can take it for granted that she was either pushed, or she threw herself, or she fell, into the sea from the landing steps of the pierhead. She was last seen there, and therefore that is the only reasonable supposition you can adopt.”
“With regard to w
