Red Devil died after colliding with other jumper in unplanned manoeuvre, says coroner

A member of the British Army's Red Devils parachute display team plummeted to his death after becoming entangled with another jumper during an unplanned canopy stacking manoeuvre, a coroner has concluded.

Sergeant Dean Walton, 36, from Gosport, died at an aerodrome in Seville in Spain on 14 October 2022, after colliding with Nims Purja during an off-duty jump, Winchester Coroner's Court heard.

GoPro footage captured by the Afghanistan veteran showed him jumping from the plane and descending on Mr Purja, whose parachute was also deployed, before he became entangled and crash-landed.

Mr Purja, a Nepalese mountaineer and Special Boat Service veteran, cut away his main canopy and activated his reserve chute, the inquest heard.

Coroner Jason Pegg said: "I'm going to record that Dean suffered catastrophic injuries, because they clearly were, when Dean struck the ground after his parachute canopy collapsed during an attempt to form a canopy stacking manoeuvre, causing Dean to become entangled in parachute lines from which he couldn’t free himself.

"I'm going to record that the attempted canopy stacking manoeuvre was not planned, which contributed to the death."

Recording a conclusion of misadventure, he added: "When Dean went to step on Nirmal Purja's canopy, he did intend to do so."

He said this had the unintended consequence of his parachute collapsing and Sgt Walton falling to his death.

Sgt Walton had a high-performance parachute, while Mr Purja had a regular parachute, the coroner said, adding: "The impact of that is the parachute used by Dean travelled far swifter, it would be out of sync approaching Mr Purja's parachute."

Reflecting on Mr Walton’s GoPro footage played in court, he said: "He does approach the canopy, under which is Nirmal Purja.

"Dean does land on the right-hand side of that canopy and when he did so it would be necessary for Dean to pull on those lines to brake.

"When Dean’s canopy collapsed he fell into the canopy of Nirmal Purja, which equally collapsed, and this occurred, it seems to be at around 3,000 feet."

The inquest heard evidence from parachute instructor Victor Grande, who arrived at the scene soon after the fatal incident.

"Mr Grande told us that it’s customary, usual practice for those engaging in parachuting, for the lowest to person to cut away first [in the event of such an incident]," the coroner said.

"The footage does demonstrate that Nirmal Purja did cut away. The actions of Nirmal Purja ... were entirely appropriate in regards to the situation in which he and Dean found themselves.

"One of the big issues in this case is how Dean came to be on Nirmal Purja's parachute.

"It does seem to me it's more likely than not it was not the plan for Dean to land on top of Nirmal Purja's canopy.

"And when Dean attempted that it had the consequences of his parachute collapsing and him suddenly plummeting to his death."