BBC boss dies after walking into the sea

A BBC executive died in mysterious circumstances after stripping off her clothes and walking into the sea.

Kari Boto, 53, was plucked from the water by a helicopter crew and taken to the hospital where her husband works as a doctor.

But staff there were unable to save her. Witnesses had earlier seen the mother-of-three sitting on the beach at Old Felixstowe, Suffolk, with her head in her hands.

A pile of clothes and set of car keys were found nearby. Police suspect she might have committed suicide.

But Mrs Boto's husband Tom, 54, said the couple often went swimming at the spot eight miles from their home in Ipswich and he believed she may have been caught in a strong current.

Mrs Boto had worked for the BBC under her maiden name of Kari Blackburn for 30 years but was due to take early retirement in days.

She specialised in African affairs, reporting and producing before becoming director of international operations for the World Service Trust.

The alarm was raised by witnesses walking along the shore at around midday on Wednesday when temperatures were about 18C (64F).

Coastguard spokesman Jo Arlow said: "They said they had seen a woman sitting on the beach with her face in her hands When they walked back along the beach some time later they saw there was a pile of clothes where the woman had been. We attended and found the clothes and personal belongings and a set of car keys."

A lifeboat spotted Mrs Boto floating face-down in the water shortly afterwards.

Her car, which was found nearby, is understood to have contained a letter addressed to her family. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Mrs Boto's Ugandan-born husband was holding a clinic at Ipswich Hospital, where he has been a senior consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist since 1992, when he heard what had happened.

He continued treating patients for 20 minutes despite knowing colleagues were trying to save his wife in

another part of the hospital. "In my heart I knew she was already dead," he said.

"I think in the circumstances my wife would be pretty proud about how I coped." He said he was convinced his wife's death was an accident.

"I had said goodbye to Kari that morning and she said she was either going to go to the gym or for a jog and swim at Felixstowe," he said.

"She was very sporty and the run at Felixstowe was something we'd done together for 15 years. We used to go for a swim at the end to cool off.

"Something catastrophic happened, I don't know what. She was a very accomplished swimmer but perhaps there was a strong undercurrent or waves."

Mrs Boto, who graduated from Churchill College, Cambridge, with a first-class degree in social and political science, once worked as a primary school teacher in Tanzania.

While there, she helped send a boy with a hole in his heart to have an operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital. When she met her future husband at a social event in London she discovered the boy was his cousin.

"How we met was destiny and coincidence beyond anything you could ever write a script for," said Mr Boto. The couple were married for 29 years and had a daughter, Kassalina, 25, and sons Jonan, 22, and Tony, 18.

Jonan plays rugby for Oxford University while Tony is a striker with Ipswich Town FC's academy.

A BBC spokesman described Mrs Boto as "an outstanding journalist, broadcaster, editor and manager of development projects".

He added: "Her kindness was legendary." An inquest will be held later.