The girlfriend of a man who drowned in Connemara last June told an inquest that she warned him "it would be his funeral" before he set off to a local beach for an early-morning swim.
Sarah Marshall said she reminded her boyfriend, James Ravenscroft (28), a publisher who lived in London, that he had been drinking and that he was not in a fit condition to drive. But Ravenscroft said it was a quiet road and he would be alright. He then set out along with a friend, Heather Coles, who also lived in London, for the beach at Aerphort, near Clifden, on Sunday, June 6th, at about 5am.
Both Mr Ravenscroft and Ms Coles (27), a research student and native of Norfolk, were drowned.
Ms Marshall described how she had gone to bed at about 2.30am on June 6th, following a night of partying at Kingston, near Clifden. There were 12 people in the house.
They had earlier had a meal in Clifden and returned to the house at 10.30 on Saturday. Ms Marshall described how she failed to stop her boyfriend and Sarah Coles from going to the beach and went back to bed. She then got up later and ate a sandwich.
Ms Coles's fiance, Guilaume Mutsaeers, whose parents owned the Kingstown house, was asleep on a sofa. Ms Marshall woke him up when she became concerned for the pair who had gone to the beach.
A German man who had spent the night close to Aerphort beach in a car with his companion described how he was woken up at about 5am by two people who were laughing and talking.
He again awoke at 5.49am and saw the man and the woman in the water. The woman was laughing and talking a lot.
When he awoke again at 7am, the car in which the two people had arrived was in the same position with its door open. Both he and his companion then set off to raise the alarm.
The jury returned verdicts of death due to drowning in accordance with the medical evidence.