The mother of 12-year-old Sunnah Khan has paid a tearful tribute to her “kind, funny, reliable, smart and incredibly beautiful daughter” at an inquest into her death.

Sunnah Khan, from High Wycombe, and Joe Abbess, 17, drowned and eight other people were treated by paramedics after they were caught in a rip tide off Bournemouth beach in Dorset on May 31 last year.

Reading her “pen portrait” to Dorset Coroner’s Court in Bournemouth, Stephanie Williams, fighting back her emotions, said: “Sunnah was born on the 11th January 2011 at 4.25am. Her name means ‘the right path’.

“From the moment I saw her I loved her dearly. Everyone did. She had huge brown eyes and a luscious head of hair.

“She was our first daughter and everyone absolutely doted on her including her brother who was just one year and four months older than her.

“As a baby Sunnah was happy and smiley and very smart. She was a beautiful baby. She was always incredibly head strong even as a young child, telling us what she liked and didn’t like, and liking to get her own way (which she usually always did!)

“When her sister came along on the day before her fourth birthday I had imagined how lovely it would be for them to grow up together with their birthdays just a day apart.

“Although she initially was not impressed that I had bought a baby home on her birthday, Sunnah and her sister had an unbreakable bond and looked up to her a great deal as did her youngest sister.

“She had the most amazing relationship with her siblings including an older sister with which she had an incredible bond with spending much time with one another.

“Sunnah comes from a large family, and was incredibly close with her many cousins. She spent a lot of time with them, making them laugh and getting up to mischief together.

“She was like the glue that held us all together probably without even realising it. She enjoyed looking after her pet cats and loved them greatly.

“She had an energy about her that drew people in, a very nurturing energy that made you feel safe if she was around.

“When my son started secondary school I worried about him so much but when Sunnah started the following year, I knew he would be OK because she wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

“She was fiercely protective of her family, even if they did fight as siblings. I would often hear them in the back seat of the car bickering between themselves, a sound which is dearly missed.

“Sunnah was incredibly popular at school, forging many tight-knit friendships. She was enjoying having some independence and would almost always be talking to someone on her phone!

“She enjoyed making videos with CapCut and expressing her creativity using TikTok, all videos we now cherish.

“At her core Sunnah was kind, funny, reliable, smart and incredibly beautiful. Her smile lit up a room and her laugh was infectious.

“She cared about so many people and would do anything for her family and friends. She was a force of nature, to know her was to be truly lucky. We have missed her and will continue to miss her for the rest of our lives.”