Brighouse teenager plunged to his death on Highlands walk inquest hears

Timothy Murray, 16, from Brighouse, died after reaching the summit of Stac Pollaidh, Wester Ross, Scotland, in August last year.

He had been walking with his parents Robin and Jacqueline and older brother Ross, when he became separated.

Bradford Coroner's Court heard how when the teenager failed to catch up with them, and could not be found, they alerted emergency services.

Timothy's body was later spotted from a rescue helicopter and recovered by the local Mountain Rescue Team.

He suffered "unsurvivable injuries", including head, leg and spleen injuries, consistent with a fall, and would have died instantly, the inquest was told.

Assistant Coroner Oliver Longstaff, sitting at the city's coroner's court, read out a number of statements in line with the family's wishes, as they chose not to attend the hearing.

A family statement outlined how on the day in question they had decided to go for a walk up Stac Pollaidh in northwest Scotland.

There were well-defined paths on the mountain and the weather was overcast with occasional light showers forecast.

Timothy and his older brother went on ahead up the summit path, while their parents remained on the lower path.

They were in contact by mobile phone, the inquest heard, and after Ross came down from the summit, they spoke to Timothy and he indicated he would catch them up.

"We continued. We wondered where he was and thought he had gone back to the car park rather than completing the circuit," the statement said.

But when he wasn't waiting for them at their car, Mr Murray and Ross headed back up the hill in search of the 16-year-old.

When nobody had seen him, they called emergency services, who managed to locate Timothy's body using a helicopter.

"We were told that Timothy had suffered a catastrophic fall.

"We understand that death would have been instant given the nature of his head injuries," the family statement added.

A post mortem examination conducted by pathologist Natasha Inglis at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness described how the last contact his family had with Timothy was shortly after 1pm, when he spoke to his parents on the phone, saying he would come down from the summit of Stac Pollaidh.

He was found dead later that evening with "evidence of having fallen from a significant height".

The postmortem concluded that he died as a result of multiple injuries, most notably to the head.

Mr Longstaff added that the tragedy had occurred on a family hillwalking trip to Scotland when the Murray parents had taken a lower path and the siblings had climbed to the summit of the mountain.

He suffered "severe injuries in what is likely to have been a fall from a considerable height", he added, concluding that Timothy's death had been due to an accident.

Stac Pollaidh is just over 600m at its highest point with a "rocky crest" at its peak and has become a popular peak to climb.

A path leads up from the car park on the shore of Loch Lurgainn, eventually splitting and meeting up again on the far side of the hill, making a circular walk of around 3km.

In a statement released through police at the time of his death, his family said: "It is a very sad loss and Timothy was a lovely son."