Sky-diver dies after parachute sabotaged

Police were tonight trying to discover who tampered with the parachute of an experienced skydiver before he plunged 13,000 ft to his death.

Detectives are treating the incident as suspicious and have launched a major inquiry into what happened to Stephen Hilder’s equipment prior to his jump.

It is believed the 20-year-old, an officer cadet and undergraduate at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, near Swindon, Wiltshire, was taking part in an annual countrywide parachuting competition.

University students from across the UK had travelled to an airfield at Hibaldstow near Brigg, Lincolnshire. to take part.

The British Collegiate Parachute Association Nationals centres around “jumping during the day and partying at night”, according to its website.

Detective Superintendent Colin Andrews of Humberside Police, who is heading the inquiry, said: “The parachute equipment had been tampered with before he jumped. This is extremely unusual.”

He described Mr Hilder’s death as “horrendous”.

“It is a tragic waste of a young man with a bright and promising future and it is a particularly horrendous way to die,” he said.

Mr Hilder – who had jumped more than 200 times previously, was understood to have belonged to, among other groups, the Army Parachute Association (APA) which is based at Airfield Camp in Netheravon, Wiltshire, and is one of to be the oldest parachute club in the world.

An APA member, who did not want to be named, described Mr Hilder as a “very nice man”.

A post-mortem investigation showed he died from multiple injuries after falling into a cornfield close to the airport.

His family, who live in the Hereford area, are said to be “devastated”.

Mr Hilder was attending the Defence Academy tri-college and was interested in a career in the Army.

Police officers have interviewed more than 70 bystanders who witnessed the incident or who were at the airfield at the time.

“The fall was caught on video by people at the site,” Mr Andrews said. “They were very shocked and upset.”

Officers want to speak to anyone who was at the airfield at any time between Monday June 30 until yesterday.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Humberside Police.

Mr Hilder was with a group of eight people making the dive from an SMG Turbo Finist plane.

The other seven made their jumps successfully.

His equipment was checed on Wednesday night and stored in good working order and the sky-diver was “extremely safety conscious”, police said.

Officers were working to find out exactly where the equipment was stored.

Steven Swallow, who manages Target SkySports SkyDiving Centre, which runs skydiving at the airfield, said he was not aware of any similar incidents in the past.

The site is the largest civilian parachute centre in the UK and tickets for experienced jumpers cost just £17.50 for a jump from about 15,000 feet, according to the company’s website

“We’ve been operating for some 12 years. It’s probably one of the top few skydiving locations in the UK,” Mr Swallow said.

He added: “We’re all very upset about it.”

Target SkySports is a member of the British Parachute Association, which was set up more than 40 years ago to organise parachuting in the UK.

Skydiving takes place at the airfield seven days a week, depending on the weather.

Safety rules published in the BPA Operations Manual state that parachutists must have at least two “airworthy parachutes attached to a common harness”.

It also states: “Experienced Parachutists are responsible for the safe condition of personally owned equipment that they may use, and for ensuring that such equipment is serviced, checked and inspected as appropriate.”

Whereas students parachutists are supervised when packing their equipment, experienced jumpers are responsible for this themselves.

Prior to packing, reserve parachutes must be inspected and certified as serviceable on a Record of Inspection check list, the BPA said.