A man tragically fell to his death on Scafell Pike in the Lake District while out walking alone.
Richard Miles died from a head injury after falling during a climb at Lord's Rake on England's highest mountain, LancsLive reports. His family became concerned about him when he did not call as he usually would do.
Rescue teams tirelessly searched for him for four days, until his body was spotted in a gully, an inquest heard. Sadly the electrical engineer had sustained head and leg injuries and was already dead.
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An inquest Cockermouth Coroner’s Court on Tuesday (December 13) heard how Richard, from Gwent in South Wales, arrived in the Lakes for a break on July 1 and was reported missing by his family on July 4. A major search operation involving police, mountain rescue teams and a coastguard helicopter was launched but had no success over three days.
On July 7, Mike Park, a member of Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team, was heading for a run on Scafell Pike and decided to revisit some of the area which had already been searched. In a statement read out to the court by coroner’s assistant Adrian Taylor, he said: "I was walking through the bottom of the craggs and as I was doing so I realised it was unsafe for me to go any further."
Mr Park turned around and walked back in the opposite direction for around 20m when he spotted Richard’s body in a gully. The inquest heard that Richard had grown up in Newport and spent more than 20 years working at Newport Galvanizers Ltd.
His success and good standing was such that he was chosen to meet then Prime Minister Theresa May when she visited the workplace. He would later move to another job working as an electrical engineer and was described as a gym goer who was interested in cars and model aircraft.
A post-mortem review found that Richard had not consumed alcohol or any other substance which could have been a factor in him falling prior to his death. A medical cause of death was recorded as ‘head injury’.
Kirsty Gomersal, area coroner for Cumbria, said: "Little is known about what Richard was doing, where he was walking and the events leading up to is death remain unknown." But she said his injuries were consistent with a fall and therefore recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
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