British wingsuit base jumper Robert Haggarty died after failing to clear cliff ledge, inquest hears

'I grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked back at the mountain and saw Rob's canopy was hung on the mountain'

Robert Haggarty (Facebook/Robert Haggarty)

A British wingsuit base jumper died after he crashed into a cliff ledge on a 2,592m-high Italian mountain, an inquest has heard.

Robert Haggarty, from Hampshire, suffered "unsurvivable injuries" when he attempted to clear a sloping cliff of 20 to 30 metres on the Castelletto Della Busazza in the Dolomites in Italy.

The 47-year-old, who had completed 500 jumps previously, was with a group of 27 on a base-jumping holiday in June last year when he went to the mountain range by helicopter.

As he attempted the jump, which he had successfully completed twice before, his lower body caught the cliff edge and he went spinning forward, the inquest, which took place in Winchester, heard.

Having lost control, his parachute deployed and he collided with the rock face, suffering multiple head and chest injuries.

He died on impact and his canopy was seen hanging on the mountain by other jumpers.

Dr Angelo Grubisic, a friend of Mr Haggarty and a lecturer in astronautics and advanced propulsion at the University of Southampton, had completed the jump ahead of him and only realised his friend had died after another jumper told him.

"I was pretty distraught at that point. I grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked back at the mountain and saw Rob's canopy was hung on the mountain," he said.

"Rob always jumped alone. Rob was always a very conservative jumper, always taking great care with his gear, always staying safe and doing the more conservative jump which makes it all the more surprising he made a mistake."

Dr Grubisic added that Mr Haggarty had appeared “very calm” prior to the jump.

“There was nothing to indicate he was in any worse shape than he was usually,” he said.

"It was my birthday, he had just sung Happy Birthday to me minutes prior to the jump, he was in good health and in a good state of mind."

Coroner Simon Burge said: "He didn't propel himself out far enough and fell and struck the rock face a glancing blow within no more than two seconds of launching.

"That glancing blow caused him to adopt a forward rotation which in base-jumping circles is an extremely dangerous state to be in.

"It causes a complete loss of control and also causes the canopy to deploy."

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Mr Burge added: "He died doing what he loved but far too soon, he had a full life ahead with his wife Joanna and his career."

Agencies contributed to this report