Aussies’ cliff death Questions remain on couple’s fatal plunge

DISTURBING questions have emerged around the tragic deaths of young couple Michael Kearns and Louise Benson, whose bodies were found at the bottom of a 30m cliff in a quiet village in Portugal.

The Sunday Territorian can reveal police have not interviewed any of the people who spent time with Mr Kearns, 33, and Ms Benson, 37, in the hours before they fell from the clifftop at Praia dos Pescadores (Fishermen’s Beach) in the surfing mecca of Ericeira in the early hours of Tuesday.

In circumstances which echo the botched investigation by police into the disappearance of English toddler Madeleine McCann a decade ago, the Portuguese police made no attempt to find witnesses, or speak to any of the people the couple had spent the previous 12 hours eating and drinking with.

Instead, local police claimed they appeared to have fallen between 1am and 6am while trying to take a selfie on the dangerous cliff face, which is protected only by a low wall.

While there is no evidence their deaths were anything other than a tragic accident, News Corp can reveal troubling inconsistencies with the police investigation, including:

THE pair were still at a local bar drinking at 4am.

A WOMAN walking her dog along the cliff face just after 5am heard a short scream, or shout, as if someone had received a fright. She has not spoken to police.

A LOCAL man told the Sunday Territorian he had been drinking with the couple at a bar before leaving at 2am and going home alone.

BUT the owner of a second bar said she had seen the local man drinking with Mr Kearns and Ms Benson at her bar until 4am. Neither the local man, nor the bar owner, have been spoken to by police.

THERE is no evidence the pair were taking a selfie, and indeed it seems unlikely on a dark cliff face in light rain.

POLICE have no witnesses to their final moments, and have not sought any CCTV images. Their bodies were found around 7.40am by a beach-cleaner.

THE Policia Judiciaria, the Portuguese investigative police who handle serious cases such as the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, came to Ericeira on Portugal’s west coast, to investigate the deaths, but returned the same day to Lisbon, and have not been back.

MS Benson was found to be clutching hairs in her hands when her body was found on the beach. ***

The Sunday Territorian spoke to several people who spent time with Mr Kearns, a miner from Perth, and Ms Benson, a British woman living in Australia and working for the Sea Shepherd organisation, in the hours before their deaths.

Every person interviewed said they were a happy, easygoing, loving couple who shared drinks and conversa-

“T he theory about the selfie was an ‘assumption’ by one of his colleagues”

tions with everyone around them.

The pair checked into the Vinnus guesthouse in central Ericeira around 3pm on Monday and dropped their bags, heading out 10 minutes later to explore the lovely old village, with its whitewashed houses, blue doors and terracotta tiled roofs. At about 4pm they took a waterfront table at the Sete Praias restaurant and bar at South Beach, where waiter Tazio De Maio served them until he finished work at 8.30pm.

Ms Benson took a photograph of Mr Kearns and posted it to Instagram, and the pair ordered a whole fish, and several drinks as they enjoyed the sun.

“He had a few beers, she had some wines,’’ Mr Di Maio told the Sunday Territorian.

“They were really, really easy, really nice.

“They were really mellow and finding it good here after a few days in the Algarve. They said it was noisy there and they couldn’t sleep but here they were at peace.’

“I said to them ‘have a good one’.

“They said ‘we will probably see you tomorrow’.’’

The pair then walked to a local pizza restaurant a few