THE mother of a young woman who got swept into the sea has described the devastating impact of her daughter’s death.

Lynne Chapman says the body of her 22-year-old daughter Lilymae Chapman was only recently found after the tragic incident on February 16.

Emergency services carried out a major search off the Brighton coast at 2.45am during Storm Dennis.

RNLI Lifeboat coxswain Steve Smith said: “Storm Dennis meant the sea conditions were pretty horrendous and it was a challenging search.”

Despite their efforts that night and in the morning, Lilymae was not found until more than a month later.

Ms Chapman said: “Our beautiful girl was taken by the sea, aged 22. She has only recently been recovered.

“We will never hug her again, nothing for any of us will be the same.

“We would like to thank all the brave people who risked their own lives trying to save her that night. Lilymae would be devastated to cause any pain to others.

“She spent her life trying to find a way to get a balance on a land she never felt any belonging to.

“She had struggled daily and we deeply want to thank those who have [given her] constant, amazing, support and love for all her 22 years.

“Lilymae always wanted to highlight and raise awareness of mental health issues. We hope that there is one positive we can all take from this. Please look after each other and be nice.”

Ms Chapman said she is now struggling to cope along with Lilymae’s ten-year-old brother Harrison.

She said it is causing him “huge pain”, but said as a family they knew Lilymae was a “tortured soul” who had “battled her demons”.

It is understood she had lived in both Brighton and Eastbourne in recent years, but most recently lived in Bournemouth.

Lilymae had enjoyed playfighting with her young brother, and was both a “fairy and a tomboy”, Ms Chapman said.

The family have appealed for help as Ms Chapman says she had a stroke two years ago and is now struggling to provide.

She said: “I cannot let this destroy his or our little family life – it is devastating too, beyond any pain.”

Lilymae’s younger brother Harrison has autism and has started suffering with nightmares.

“He still sends text messages to his sister every night, Ms Chapman said.

She wants to give her son a good life, and said: “We are a family struggling, hence this campaign to better my son’s life.

“We need to concentrate on our son.

“My gorgeous blessing of a son is not a wanty [sic] child but I want him to have things to look forward to, choices to make.”

To donate visit www.gofundme.com/f/autism-son-10-needs-a-smile-his-sister-died-v.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Lilymae’s death. Her body was found at Newhaven at the end of March.

The force said an inquest was opened and adjourned by the coroner in East Sussex.