Dog walker buried alive by cliff fall ‘avalanche’

A DOG walker was crushed to death by an “avalanche” in front of his partner when a seaside cliff gave way, an inquest has heard.

Brendan Lavery, 58, was buried under tons of mud and sand and died instantly from multiple injuries.

The inquest in Ipswich heard how the 25ft cliff had been weakened by high tides over the preceding days.

Mr Lavery’s partner, Lynne Tibbert, was walking with him and their two dogs at Thorpeness, Suffolk, on Jan 17 last year. She told the inquest in a statement: “I could see as if a bird was pecking at the cliff face and sand coming down and a small hole in the cliff.

“I said, ‘look at that’, and he looked up. There was a rumble like thunder, coming from the cliff.

“I started to run towards the sea, but Brendan was directly underneath the cliff. It sounded like an avalanche behind me. I tried to look back but all I

‘It sounded like an avalanche. All I could see were tons and tons of mud where he was standing’

could see were tons and tons of mud where Brendan was standing.”

Ms Tibbert was buried in sand and mud from the top of her legs down but was able to alert another dog walker, who dialled 999.

Firefighters, paramedics, coastguards and members of the public tried to dig Mr Lavery out. They were helped by an eight-year-old girl who had seen the cliff fall and showed them where he was buried.

Ms Tibbert added: “They told me Brendan died instantly. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She expressed concern that there had been no signs warning of the risk of cliff falls.

She said: “Had we seen signs we might have thought twice about going on.”

Glencairne Ogilvie, the landowner, said in a statement: “I honestly do not know what I could have done to prevent this accident from happening.”

The inquest heard that he later posted warning signs in the area.

Paul Patterson, a coastal engineer with Suffolk Coastal Council, said the cliff was made from sand and mud and could easily be eaten away by the sea. He said several days of very high tides had led to “significant cliff erosion”.

Assistant coroner Dr Dan Sharpstone recorded a conclusion that Mr Lavery’s death was an accident.