Climber died in 'terrible accident' on Malaga holiday with father
A climber who fell 20 metres to his death was on holiday with his father at the time of the "terrible accident", an inquest has heard. Zachary Cook, 22, from Winterbourne near Bristol, was climbing a route during a trip to Malaga in Spain when he died on 11 December 2024.He suffered fatal injuries in the fall, which happened after he unclipped both of his safety clips from a safety wire, Avon Coroner's Court heard on Monday. Area coroner Dr Peter Harrowing said a post-mortem examination was conducted in Spain and gave Mr Cook's cause of death as poly (severe) trauma resulting from the fall.
Coroner's officer Alexis Camp told the hearing in a written statement that the pair were climbing a route that "required them to have two safety clips on their person and on the safety wires on the rock face".He added: "Prior to the start of the climb, they were informed to only unclip one of the safety clips from the safety wire at any one time and never to unclip both safety clips at the same time."Around halfway through the route, Zachary unclipped both of his safety clips from the safety wire, which resulted in him falling around 20 metres below."
'Terrible accident'
The court heard that a group of medics were in the vicinity and went to Mr Cook's aid but he died later at the scene.Mr Harrowing said: "The family have no concerns surrounding any of the treatment or care received by Zachary from any of the medical professionals involved."They believe this was a terrible accident and nothing more could have been done."He recorded a conclusion of misadventure, adding: "He fell around 20 metres while climbing causing him to suffer traumatic injuries."The conclusion as to the death based on the evidence will be recorded as misadventure."The family [are] not in attendance today but I nonetheless send my most sincerest condolences to the family and all the friends of Zachary at this time."
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an hour ago
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an hour ago
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Harratt admitted he was 'very apologetic and 'felt terrible' after hitting the woman with the chair but said he would have felt 'even worse' if he allowed his mate to 'get badly beaten up while he's trying to enjoy his holiday'. Oldham Athletic striker Kian Harratt (black shorts, circled) appears to throw a chair at a woman in a video recently shared to social media 🪑😳 — The92Bible (@The92Bible) June 25, 2025 Oldham, who he only signed for in March, have now revealed that a 'thorough investigation' will be carried out. A club spokesperson told the BBC it 'strongly condemns violence of any kind'. 'Until the outcome of that investigation there will be no further comment,' they added. Oldham's comments come after a bizarre statement from the hotel where the fight took place. Vibra Hotels, which runs the Marco Polo Hotel in San Antonio, peculiarly claimed that 'no chairs were thrown at guests', while admitting it was a 'shame' its staff had to deal with the fight A spokesperson told the Oldham Times: 'The fight in the pool lasted less than three minutes since our corporate security at the hotel acted immediately.' Despite video footage of the chair being hurled, they added: 'No chairs were thrown at any guests; the lady got in the middle, it seems that with the intention to stop the fight. 'The lady was asked by our security members if she wanted to report to the police and file a complaint, but she said she was okay and she did not want to, that she just slipped and she was fine, and she thanked our security members. 'It took less than three minutes for the incident to end since our security acted quickly, and as soon as they acted, the fighters left the pool area. @ Just for the people who have seen the video circling the internet off me throwing a chair 'FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON' 👍🏻 here's the fella who started it all and let me just say he was the worst man you could ever come across and a bully! He was 6,6 and built like a brick! Anyways he was swimming over to young couples while there at chilling and trying to make the lad feel uncomfortable flirting with there girls and all sorts off daft stuff like that! And one off my mates who is only 18 by the way jumped in the pool and started splashing him having a laugh like you do on holiday then it's stopped! After that my mate got out off the pool and the big fella shouted over to him wtf are you looking at so obviously my mates said to him I'm looking at you the fella as then flipped and started walking to my mate and the woman who gets his with the chair is in this video here trying to stop him my pal then goes dancing over to him not expecting the man to punch him…but anyways he hit my pal in the face and dropped him and then proceeded to kick him in the face while he was down👌🏻 the video cut off tho after that obviously like any normal mates would do we've backed him up I tried staying out the way as I don't want the trouble a chair then got lobbed towards me so I picked the chair up and threw it back and it accidentally hit the woman who as you can see went down abit easy but besides that I was very apologetic and I felt terrible, but I'd have felt even worse if we left my mate to get badly beaten up while he's trying to enjoy his holiday I hope this video opens peoples eyes I had to post it cause I've had nothing but abuse all morning and I'm sure this will clear it or so it should 👍🏻 #fyp ♬ original sound - 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗛𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗧𝘃 - 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗛𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗧𝘃 Footage initially emerged of the quarrel over the weekend without Harratt being identified 'It really is a shame for us and for our teams to have to deal with this kind of issue, especially when people are supposed to come on holiday to enjoy and have fun, and not to act in other ways.' Meanwhile, on Thursday, Harrat released his own statement after mounting pressure. Harrat claimed his group had merely been involved in the brawl after responding to a 'big bully'. But that man Brandon Watkins, 31, hit back at Harratt's claim that he started it, saying: 'I'm 6ft 4 for a start and I'm not a bully.' Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Brandon insisted the player 'provoked' his friends and their whole group were 'looking for a fight' when they arrived at the Marco Polo Hotel in San Antonio on Saturday afternoon. He said: 'The fight happened on day five of our holiday. We'd been around that pool every day and getting on with everybody and making friends with people. 'These guys turned up and started throwing balls about. 'Several people were saying they're going to be trouble even before it kicked off. 'At one point one of his mates got in the pool next to me and just started aggressively splashing me. One of them said what are you looking at? 'They were just being a nightmare. One lad was winding us up. Kian was sat right next to him and if anything Kian was provoking him. 'Next thing I knew Kian picked up a chair and threw it. 'I got the impression he was intoxicated, they were sat near the bar before and if they were sober they wouldn't have acted like that. 'After the brawl happened people were buying us drinks and congratulating us, that's how bad this group were. 'It's just outrageous for a footballer to behave like he did.' The viral video shows Brandon's group clashing with Harratt's friends before the unnamed woman tried to intervene and was hit by a chair. Several men including Brandon fell into the pool and another chair was thrown at them before hotel security rushed in to intervene. Brandon - who was on holiday with four school friends - stayed with the injured woman and her friends after Harratt's group were kicked out of the hotel and later helped her back to her room because she had broken her toe in the fall. Brandon's version is also backed up by a close friend of the woman who was hit by the chair. The friend - who was sunbathing by the pool when the brawl kicked off - said: 'It was carnage, I've never seen anything like it in my life. My friend was injured. They were all just shouting and swearing at each other. 'She's an absolute angel and such a good person which is why she got involved - she saw people were arguing and she just went over to stop it. 'But when she did Kian spoke to her like she was a piece of s*** and Brandon stepped in out of respect and said don't speak to a woman like that. Brandon threw the first punch then all Kian's friends got involved.' Following the scrap, Harratt said he felt 'terrible' but that the woman went down 'easily'. The friend added: 'That's no apology, he has no remorse whatsoever. Him and his mates were kicked out of the hotel without apologising, he's only sorry because he has been identified. 'My friend is really embarrassed by the whole thing, it was a horrible experience made worse as people who have seen the video have been trolling her online. 'He's a professional footballer, a lot of kids look up to him and it's not a good reflection on his club.' The striker scored the winning goal as Oldham won the National League play-off final on June 1 Harratt, who has also played for Huddersfield Town and Fleetwood Town, alleged that tension had risen after his eighteen-year-old friend splashed Watkins, who he claimed had made people at the pool feel uncomfortable. The brawl comes just three weeks after Harratt fired Oldham to Wembley glory, scoring the winning goal in extra-time of their 3-2 victory over Southend United to earn a League 2 spot next season. After the video was shared online on Sunday it was reposted by the footballer who also shared various snaps of himself on holiday on the Spanish island. On Thursday, posting on TikTok, Harratt wrote: 'Just for the people who have seen the video circling the internet of me throwing a chair 'FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON' 'Here's the fella who started it all and let me just say he was the worst man you could ever come across and a bully! 'He was 6,6 and built like a brick! Anyway he was swimming over to young couples while they're all chilling and trying to make the lad feel uncomfortable flirting with there girls and all sorts of daft stuff like that! 'And one of my mates who is only 18 by the way jumped in the pool and started splashing him having a laugh like you do on holiday then it's stopped! 'After that my mate got out off the pool and the big fella shouted over to him wtf are you looking at so obviously my mates said to him I'm looking at you the fella has then flipped and started walking to my mate and the woman who gets hit with the chair is in this video here trying to stop him my pal then goes dancing over to him not expecting the man to punch him. 'But anyways he hit my pal in the face and dropped him. He has previously been banned from football for betting on games and fined for poaching 'The video cut off though after that obviously like any normal mates would do we've backed him up I tried staying out the way as I don't want the trouble a chair then got lobbed towards me so I picked the chair up and threw it back and it accidentally hit the woman who as you can see went down a bit easy but besides that I was very apologetic and I felt terrible. 'But I'd have felt even worse if we left my mate to get badly beaten up while he's trying to enjoy his holiday I hope this video opens peoples eyes I had to post it cause I've had nothing but abuse all morning and I'm sure this will clear it or so it should.' It's not Harratt's first brush with controversy. Last year while on loan at Fleetwood from Huddersfield he was fined £1,000 by police after he was caught poaching in North Yorkshire. Police were called just before midnight on February 6 to investigate a vehicle being driven suspiciously around Whashton, near Richmond. A short while later Harratt, from Pontefract, and Daniel Luke Dimmock, 34, from Castleford were found carrying large black lamps, and with lurcher-type dogs on slip leads, police said. The men were searched, and their lamps and vehicle seized. Whistleblowers, brought to you by the Mail and Wickes TradePro, is football's most original new podcast, lifting the lid on the parts of the game no one else talks about Podcast All episodes Play on Apple Spotify They were found guilty of entering land as a trespasser at night with poaching equipment at Harrogate Magistrates Court on December 19 and fined £1,153 each, and ordered to pay hundreds of pounds more in costs and surcharges, according to police. He was also convicted of poaching at a farm in East Yorkshire in 2022 and fined £830, plus £233 costs. Also, Harratt was banned from football for four months in the 2023-24 season while at Huddersfield after placing 484 bets on matches over a three-year period. That came with a £3,200 fine and 36 of the bets were on Huddersfield games - though he insisted he was not in the matchday squad for any of them.
