Sean Emmett DID beat his new bride before her Dubai plunge death as coroner slams superbike champ’s ‘inconsistent’ story
FORMER superbike champion Sean Emmett did beat his new wife before she plunged to her death from the fourth-floor window of a Dubai hotel, a coroner ruled today.
Alison Hewitt, the assistant coroner for Surrey, said that because of Emmett’s “inconsistencies” it meant the truth of what happened to Abigail Elson. would never be known.
Abbie is said to have fallen to her death from their fourth-floor honeymoon suite at Jumeirah Creekside hotel in Dubai in 2013.
Emmett claimed she fell by accident after leaning out of the open window.
Ms Hewitt ruled an “open conclusion” in Abbie’s death because of the “inconsistencies” in Emmett’s evidence.
The coroner told the inquest today in Woking: “I am entirely satisfied that Sean Emmett was violent to Abigail at times.”
The coroner rejected his account today, saying she did not believe he had been telling the truth on a number of points while appearing as a witness at the inquest.
Ms Hewitt told the court: “I have concluded that I cannot accept Sean Emmett’s evidence as a full and reliable account of what took place in the hotel bedroom during the nine minutes before Abigail fell.
“I have considered that, taken as a whole, Mr Emmett’s account is problematic.
“Taken as a whole, his account does not seem to me to be wholly credible.
“Mr Emmett suggests that Abigail was increasingly upset and was repeatedly putting herself in a precarious and dangerous position.
“He suggests that he was calm and loving throughout, failing to persuade her to come away from the window.”
Emmett and his bride were arguing in the moments before she died, the coroner said.
Emmett had told the inquest that in hindsight he wished he had restrained his wife.
When asked why didn’t physically intervene, Emmett told the court: “That is a question I probably wake up to every day, if I could turn the clock back I would have literally given Abbie a bear hug, taken her from that window and taken her with me downstairs to look for that ring, but I did not and I wish I had.”
Ms Hewitt said it was difficult to understand why he had not acted, adding she believed Mr Emmett would have done so if he had been “calm and concerned” in the way he described.
Instead, the coroner suggest Mr Emmett and his wife had fallen out after enjoying a full day of drinking at their Dubai hotel, where the couple were mixing and matching alcohol.
Emmett claimed Abbie had thrown her wedding ring out of the window, rather than dropping it accidentally, the inquest heard.
Emmett had given evidence during the inquest, where he was asked about historical allegations of his domestic abuse of Abbie.
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The coroner said Emmett had become “annoyed” at how drunk she was and told her to turn music down.
The former motorcylist, 50, had denied killing Abbie, when he was arrested for the murder of his 27-year-old wife in 2013.
Emmett was not prosecuted over his wife’s death.
The former Grand Prix champ has maintained her fall was an accident.
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The court heard allegations from Abbie’s family that she was a victim of physical abuse.
Post-mortem tests found she had suffered chest and head injuries after falling from a high place.
The court heard she also had enough alcohol in her body to have been sufficient for a person to lack balance and lose consciousness.