A son has described his family's grief and shock after his father fell to his death while walking with friends in the Peak District. James Alexander Ryan, 65, was hiking on a footpath near the popular Speedwell Cavern on Saturday (April 8) before the fatal fall.
When he was found by mountain rescuers, he was unconscious, having sustained a serious head injury. Despite paramedics' best efforts to save him, James was pronounced dead at the scene, Manchester Evening News reports.
James' son Jonathan, 28, told the publication of his family's heartache following his sudden death. Jonathan explained that his dad had travelled from their home in Colchester to the Peak District to walk in the countryside with friends.
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"We are all so shocked, it hasn't really sunk in for any of us yet," Jonathan said. "You don't expect your dad to go away and then not come home. They were going for two days over the Easter weekend and planned to go up to Speedwell Cavern to take some pictures and see the views. It was on the way down that he fell.
"I spoke to him on the Friday evening and before he went, he took my mum to work and then drove up to Derbyshire to meet them. That was the last I heard from him. When the police came to see us at midnight to tell us what had happened, we were in total shock."
It is the second tragedy to hit Jonathan, his sister Danielle, 35, dad James and mum Denise in recent years. In 2017, Jonathan's half-brother, also called James, died at the age of 42.
Jonathan's dad, James, who would have been 66 this May, worked as an audio-visual engineer. He loved Arsenal football club, regularly attended car festivals and had an interest in vintage audio, with his own collection of amplifiers.
"It's one of those things you just never expect," Jonathan added. "A few years ago we buried my brother and it was really hard for us all, and now will have to do it again. For my mum, my dad is her only partner ever. They have been together for 42 years and she doesn't know what it is like to be without him."
The Edale Mountain Rescue Team were called to the scene at around 7pm on Saturday evening, along with officers from Derbyshire Police and paramedics from the East Midlands Ambulance Service.
Edale Mountain Rescue said in a statement: "A group of friends visiting the area for the weekend were making their way off the hill when one slipped and tumbled a distance, sustaining a serious head injury during the fall. A couple of local team members arrived on scene at the same time as an ambulance crew and team paramedic.
"Despite the best efforts of their friends, team members and the ambulance crew, the injuries received were incompatible with life and the walker was unfortunately pronounced deceased at scene. After the attendance of the police the deceased was evacuated from the hillside. Our condolences to the family and friends of those involved."
A spokesperson for Derbyshire Constabulary told Manchester Evening News: “We were called to reports that a walker had tripped and suffered a head injury near Speedwell Cavern, Castleton, on Saturday evening. Mountain rescue and ambulance crews attended but sadly the 65-year-old man, from Colchester in Essex, was pronounced dead at the scene.”
A spokesperson for the East Midlands Ambulance Service added: “We received a call at 6.54pm on 8 April to Speedwell Cavern in the Peak District. The caller reported that someone had fallen. We sent a paramedic in a car and a crewed ambulance to the scene.”
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