Devoted husband and wife in their 80s died after plunging from vertical cliffs in Devon while on a walk during holiday, inquest hears
A devoted elderly couple on a holiday trip were found dead at the base of sheer cliffs, an inquest has heard.
John and Imogen Kesteven were on a coach tour to North Devon when they failed to return to their hotel in September last year.
A coroner heard the nature loving couple may have slipped or tripped along a cliff path over the vertical cliffs which rise to nearly 1,000 feet at their highest point at Lynton, Devon.
The bodies of retired architect John, 81, and his 80 year old retired housing officer wife were located at the base of the cliffs by a police helicopter two days after they were last seen at the Valley of the Rocks Hotel where they were staying.
The couple’s daughter Juliet Grey said her parents did not act their age and were not defined by their age and enjoyed walking and being active.
A coroner heard the nature loving couple may have slipped or tripped along a cliff path over the vertical cliffs which rise to nearly 1,000 feet at their highest point at Lynton, Devon
John and Imogen Kesteven (pictured) were on a coach tour to North Devon when they failed to return to their hotel in September last year
She said they may have gone off a path to explore and look for some plant cuttings and she added they may have been tired and overreached themselves on the tough pathway, and possibly slipped or tripped.
Parts of the path are just two or three feet from the cliff edge which is hidden by vegetation.
She told the senior Devon coroner Philip Spinney: ‘They were very outdoors oriented who were young for their ages.’
She told the hearing at Exeter Coroner’s Court that they may have been walking arm in arm or hand in hand and were devoted to each other as they were about to celebrate 58 years of marriage.
She said if one was in trouble, the other would rush to help.
Juliet said her mother suffered with short term memory loss and her father’s knee sometimes collapsed and made him unsteady – and both had some balance issues and had hip replacements in the past.
Det Sgt Ben Cartwright, of Devon and Cornwall police, said a green scarf was found at the top of the cliffs close to the path edge.
And some green leaves from a Rhododendron was found in Imogen’s handbag among the large rocks at the base of the cliffs – and there were Rhododendron plants along the pathway.
He said John had a bramble bush with its root ball wrapped around his body which appeared to have been pulled from the cliff as he tried to stop his fall.
A pathologist’s post mortem concluded both died rapidly from multiple injuries after a fall from height.
DS Cartwright said: ‘They went for a recreational walk. It’s an unfortunate and very tragic accident.’
He said it was possible they were collecting cuttings and left the narrow pathway and got into trouble, and as one has tried to rescue the other, they have both ended up plunging down the 500 foot high cliffs.
Coroner Mr Spinney recorded that the couple, from Greenford, Middlesex, were found deceased at the foot of cliffs and died from injuries sustained from a fall from height.
He told their two grown up children: ‘To lose both your parents must be very difficult to bear.’
