An officer in the British Army's Red Devils parachute display team plunged to his death after becoming entangled with another jumper in an unplanned manoeuvre, a coroner has concluded.
Sergeant Major Dean Walton, 36, from Gosport died at an aerodrome in Seville, Spain, on 14 October 2022 after a collision with Nirmal Purja mid-air during a training jump.
The Afghanistan veteran's parachute canopy collapsed during an attempt to form an unplanned canopy stacking manoeuvre, coroner Jason Pegg said at Winchester Coroners' Court on Tuesday.
Footage captured on a GoPro by Mr Walton showed him jumping from the plane and descending on Nepalese mountaineer Mr Purja, who had also activated his parachute.
The pair became entangled at around 3,000ft and crash landed.
Mr Purja told the court Mr Walton "probably wanted to show off and stand on top of my canopy".
He said the "brutal reality" was that Mr Walton endangered his life by descending upon his parachute.
"I could have also died," he said.
Mr Watson, a Special Boat Service veteran, had said before the jump the plan was a "freefall basic jump, freefall drills" before they would "cut away for a deployment of canopies and landing".
Concluding misadventure the coroner said: "Nirmal Purja, I have found to be a very credible witness. 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."
He said Mr Walton had become entangled in parachute lines which he could not free himself from, and subsequently "suffered catastrophic injuries" when he struck the ground.
Mr Walton and Mr Purja had first met a week before the incident, and had been doing 12 to 14 jumps a day to practice their skills, the inquest heard.
The hearing was also given evidence via video link from parachute instructor Victor Grande, who arrived at the scene soon after the fatal incident.
He said: "When I arrived to the scene of the accident there was several people around Mr Dean, including Mr Nirmal, who was on his knees crying - but there was no emergency services yet."
