{"id":374902,"date":"2026-01-17T08:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T08:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374902\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T08:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T08:57:15","slug":"body-found-in-search-for-missing-girl-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374902\/","title":{"rendered":"Body found in search for missing girl, 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard MaddenEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire<\/p>\n

\"HumbersideHumberside Police<\/p>\n

Grace Keeling, left, and Sarah Keeling went into the sea at Withernsea on 2 January<\/p>\n

A body has been found in the search for a missing girl, 15, who was swept into the sea off the East Yorkshire coast, Humberside Police has said.<\/p>\n

Grace Keeling went into the water at Withernsea on 2 January. Her mother, Sarah Keeling, 45, and passer-by Mark Ratcliffe, 67, both died after trying to save her.<\/p>\n

The force said emergency services had attempted to retrieve the body, which was found among the rocks on the beach at Withernsea on Thursday at 08:30 GMT, but was unsuccessful due to tide times and other conditions.<\/p>\n

Specialist officers have been in contact with Grace Keeling’s family and have asked people to “refrain from speculation” and “respect their privacy”.<\/p>\n

Police said emergency services, including HM Coastguard, had cordoned off an area of Holmpton Road and remained at the scene.<\/p>\n

Det Supt Simon Vickers said: “Officers and specialist teams have been working to explore every possible option in very complex circumstances to delicately recover the body.<\/p>\n

“Due to tide times, conditions and the location, the recovery could not be immediately carried out and has therefore been paused until it is safe to resume.”<\/p>\n

\"DarrinDarrin Stevens<\/p>\n

A major search operation was launched on 2 January following reports of people in the water<\/p>\n

A major operation was launched<\/a> involving HM Coastguard, lifeboats and helicopters after calls to the emergency services at about 15:00 GMT on 2 January.<\/p>\n

Police have previously said that, from trawling through CCTV and speaking to multiple witnesses, it was understood that Grace Keeling and a friend were on the steps near to the rocks when she was “believed to have fallen into the water after being swept by a wave”.<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe was pulled unconscious from the sea and died at the scene. Sarah Keeling’s body was recovered later the same evening.<\/p>\n

In a tribute, Ratcliffe’s family described him as a “true selfless hero with a heart of gold, who was so cruelly taken trying to save others”.<\/p>\n

Joanne Gee, a close friend of Sarah Keeling, said the 45-year-old “left a mark with absolutely everyone she met<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

\"FamilyFamily Handout<\/p>\n

Mark Ratcliffe was described by his family as a “selfless hero”<\/p>\n

Humberside Police said no formal identification of the body had taken place but recognised the discovery had followed 13 days of “extensive searches” for Grace Keeling.<\/p>\n

Vickers added: “I appreciate this update will understandably cause concern to members of the public.<\/p>\n

“We have a dedicated team of specialists who are doing everything they can in their efforts to carry out the recovery as safely and as quickly as possible.”<\/p>\n

\"JasmineJasmine Lowe \/ BBC<\/p>\n

One of many heartfelt tributes placed at the scene in Withernsea<\/p>\n

An inquest into the deaths of Ratcliffe and Sarah Keeling was opened at Hull Coroners’ Court on 12 January<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hearing was told that the results of a preliminary post mortem examination found Sarah Keeling died from drowning and head and neck injuries.<\/p>\n

She came from Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire and worked in sales.<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe, who was a retired warehouse worker and lived in Withernsea, died from drowning and chest injuries. He was originally from Bradford, the court heard.<\/p>\n

The inquest was adjourned to a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard MaddenEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Humberside Police Grace Keeling, left, and Sarah Keeling went into the sea at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-374902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}