Utterly brainless
Yob throws rocks off Broadchurch cliffs ... as families oblivious to danger sit 200ft below
TWO hundred feet up, a group of teenagers hurl rocks from the edge of a cliff as families relax on the beach below.
Careless about their own peril at the edge of the crumbling precipice, the four youths were also utterly reckless as to whether they hit someone below them.
One rock narrowly missed a couple and their dog on the beach. Given the height of the cliff, even the smallest coin or pebble could have caused lifechanging injuries.
The four were pictured on the sandstone cliffs at West Bay in Dorset, the setting for ITV crime drama Broadchurch.
Onlookers told how the group, thought to be aged around 17 or 18, swigged cans of beer before one started throwing rocks.
The incident was captured by photographer Graham Hunt, 43, who visited the beauty spot at around 7pm on Sunday to take pictures of the cliffs in the setting sun.
Mr Hunt, from Bridport, said: ‘I looked up and saw four youngsters drinking beer on top of the cliff, I couldn’t believe my eyes. They must only have been a few feet away from the edge, otherwise there’s no way I’d have been able to see them.
‘One of the boys started throwing rocks from the edge in the direction of the couple below.
‘They could easily have been hit and if they had been it would’ve been serious. Then the group began waving at me, which they found very funny. It’s fair to say I wasn’t amused.’
Jake Lanning, deputy station officer at West Bay coastguard, said he was ‘shocked to the core’ by the pictures.
He added: ‘It is difficult to comprehend and understand the thought processes of the young adults involved.
‘On the one hand you have the obvious, well-publicised dangers of putting yourself at risk by approaching the edge of the unstable and overhanging cliffs.
‘On the other, you have the hugely irresponsible and highly dangerous action of throwing a projectile from the top of the cliff. Either of these behaviours could have easily resulted in the death of one of the young adults or someone on the beach below.’
The cliffs at West Bay, along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, are known for regular rock falls. Numerous signs warn visitors not to stand or sit too close to the edge. In 2012 holidaymaker Charlotte Blackman, 22, was crushed to death on the beach when 400 tons of rock fell.