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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Robert Dalling & Chiara Fiorillo

Horrified girlfriend watches man fall to his death over FaceTime while on night out

A man has died after falling into the River Thames while Facetiming his girlfriend during a night out.

James East, from Swansea, Wales, had been out with his girlfriend Arabella Ashfield in Kingston, southwest London, to celebrate the 18th birthday of the woman's sister on September 25.

During the night, he went to take a break and sat on a walled area of a bridge, but misjudged his seating position and fell backwards.

James hit the back of his head before falling into the River Thames, reports Wales Online.

The 25-year-old had been on Facetime with Miss Ashfield when the tragic accident took place, as he had been trying to locate her so they could catch a taxi home together.

Emergency services were called to the scene of the incident and he was taken to the hospital, where doctors tried to save his life for three hours.

The young man tragically died after suffering head injuries (Family of James East/MEDIA WALES)
His family paid tribute to him after his tragic death (Family of James East/MEDIA WALES)

However, his family said doctors assumed he had drowned, but a post-mortem later revealed James died from head injuries.

Paying tribute to Mr East, his sister Abigail Bladen, and mum, Sara Ivey, said: "His poor girlfriend, Arabella, was actually on Facetime to him trying to direct him to their taxi, and she has gone through hell now as she has watched that happen.

"He was in the water for 50 minutes and then they found him and took him to hospital where they worked on him for three hours to try and save him.

"When he had the post-mortem, it was found that he was dead before he entered the water due to his head injuries, but they didn't realise that. Because he went into the Thames they thought he had drowned.

"They were working on him thinking he had drowned when it was his head. They weren't to know that."

They added: "We're just devastated. It's awful, he's so young and had so much to look forward to. To be honest, it still hasn't registered with us. It was just horrendous for my mum, Kingston Police had to call South Wales Police who then had to come here at 4.50am and knock the door.

James pictured with his niece, Ada Lili Bladen (Family of James East/MEDIA WALES)

"It was a three and a half hour drive up there which was just horrendous for my mum and our stepdad. They asked them to pull over half way to say they couldn't work on him any longer and that there was nothing they could do. It's horrendous, just for them being on the side of the motorway and to receive that news. They tried to get a police escort, but couldn't get one, so they had to drive the rest of the way."

James studied at the London School of Economics and was working as a business development executive at Trybe.

He was due to run the London Marathon the week after his passing and his family had arranged to go to support him.

It took two weeks for his family to arrange to bring James back home to Swansea - and he was laid to rest on October 13.

His sister said: "Six weeks before he died he landed a job that he absolutely loved.

"He was doing really well and they loved him. He absolutely loved London and he used to joke that he only ever used to come home to see his niece, but we are a close family and he is a home bird at heart.

"If you didn't know James that well you'd think he was very quiet and well-spoken, but he had a very dry sense of humour and was the life and soul of the party. It was testament to how popular he was by the amount of people who turned out for his funeral.

"He had so many friends. His boss from Trybe travelled down and he only knew him for six weeks. He told us that he knew he was special from the moment he interviewed him.

"They shut the office for two days after they found out. People had such nice things to say about him, and it was nice to know he was so happy and doing so well, but it's just bittersweet because we wanted that to carry on for him.

"He'll definitely be best remembered for his cheeky smile - that got him away with everything! He meant different things to everyone. With his friends he was the life and soul, but to us he was just perfect, he was really loving and loved his niece to bits."

A fundraiser for his family has so far raised £2,320. You can donate here.

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