Elderly couple ‘jumped to deaths hand-in-hand' from cliff beneath Whitby Abbey
The man and woman, who have not been named, are thought to have taken their own lives in the seaside town on Wednesday evening. Their bodies were found on rocks 180ft beneath the ruined Gothic abbey, which inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Brian Vickers, 63, said the couple had smiled at passers-by before leaping to their deaths. 'I saw the helicopter hovering and came down to see what was going on,' he said.
'I was told from somebody who has been walking along the path that he had come across them shortly before and they did not appear to be in distress.
'One witness said 'they smiled at me and I smiled back'. It was as if they were just going for a walk, there was nothing strange about it. He said that they turned to face the sea and held hands and jumped. About a dozen people witnessed it.'
As the tide came in, the couple were airlifted by a Coastguard helicopter to waiting paramedics, who pronounced them dead at 8.24pm. The circumstances of their death are not suspicious, police sources said.
'It is dreadfully sad'
A security guard at a vintage steam engine rally being held at the abbey ruins said: 'The place was full of police and emergency vehicles trying to recover the bodies. They had to be winched up by the Coastguard helicopter one at a time because the tide was fast coming in. It's heartbreaking.'
A rally attendee added: 'People were saying that the couple had been saying 'hello' to walkers, as you do, and looked to be enjoying a nice evening walk before they jumped off. It is dreadfully sad. But it seems to have been a deliberate act, not an accident.'
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: 'A member of the public called the police at 7.16pm after spotting a man and woman on the rocks below.
'With the tide coming in fast, the Coastguard coordinated a helicopter recovery to ambulance crews near Whitby Abbey. This was completed at 8.24pm. Paramedics confirmed the deaths, and the bodies have been taken to hospital by ambulance.
'Police are on with tracing the next of kin of the man and woman while the investigation continues into the circumstances of the sudden deaths for a coroner's report.'
The RNLI said: 'Whitby RNLI volunteers launched their inshore lifeboat yesterday evening at 7.20pm to respond to an incident alongside other emergency services.'
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