Climber falls 300ft to his death in Wales - and takes companion with him



An inquest in Anglesey has heard how an experienced climber fell more than 300ft down a sea cliff pulling his companion with him to their deaths.

Vaughan Holme, 48, from West Sussex, was climbing the Gauntlet at Gogarth Cliffs near Holyhead in Anglesey, Wales, when the accident occurred.

He was climbing with student Jack Hutton-Pott, 23, from Hampshire (pictured above), in June, when he fell while the pair were connected by a rope.

Pathologist Dr Mark Lord told the inquest in Llangefni that Mr Holme's death was "instantaneous".

According to the BBC, he said of Mr Hutton-Potts: "He's fallen, become unconscious and unfortunately landed in the water and drowned."

He added: "Clearly the only conclusion I can come to is the deaths were due to an accident.

"We don't know why Vaughan fell. We don't know why Jack decided not to hook on to the cliff."

The inquest heard the climb was within both the men's capabilities with coroner Nicola Jones describing them both as "safety conscious". She added: "Clearly the only conclusion I can come to is the deaths were due to an accident. We don't know why Vaughan fell. We don't know why Jack decided not to hook on to the cliff.'

Elfyn Jones, of Llanberis mountain rescue team, said it appeared Mr Hutton-Potts was waiting to climb so there may have been a 'judgement call' about whether to use a belay, a climbing tool
that attaches the rope to the rock.

According to the Daily Mail, he said: "Had they been belayed it's possible the fall wouldn't have had the consequences it had."

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