Husband’s agony as British grandmother, 60, is killed by monster shark while diving
FLANKED by police officers, the husband of a British grandmother tries to take in the horrific news that she has been killed by a massive shark while diving.
David Collyer, 55, had been on his way to pick up wife Doreen, 60, from a beach in Western Australia when he saw helicopters circling overhead.
He arrived to be told she had been killed by a shark bigger than an 18ft boat.
Yesterday a hunt was under way for the deadly creature after the second fatal attack in five days.
Mrs Collyer and her diving partner John had been searching for crayfish in a reef off Mindarie Beach near Perth on Sunday when he felt the shark brush past them.
John returned to the surface and realised Mrs Collyer, who he described as a phenomenal diver, had been attacked.
The 43-year- old managed to pull her back into their boat, anchored between two reefs around half a mile from the shore, and tried to comfort her.
She was pronounced dead by the time
‘Pulled her back into the boat’
she was brought back to land. Trent Walker, a local fisherman, saw the fin of a shark which he estimated to be ‘ not much smaller than my 7.6metre boat’ swimming in the area about two hours after the fatal attack.
Fisheries officials have responded by closing beaches in the area and laying baited lines, saying they will shoot a captured shark if it is suspected of being Mrs Collyer’s killer.
Mr and Mrs Collyer, who were to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this year, had emigrated from the Wirral in 2011, with her securing a lecturing post in nursing in Perth.
Shortly after arriving, Mr Collyer posted a photograph on Facebook of a woman thought to be his wife standing in the surf with the caption ‘Is that a shark out there?!!’
The pair had followed their marine engineer son Ben, 38, to enable them to see their granddaughter Daisy – then three – growing up. Their daughter, former England cricketer Sarah, had moved to New Zealand but is now believed to be in Portugal.
Yesterday Mr Collyer said: ‘Doreen loved nursing, she was a passionate nurse and she was a fantastic teacher.
‘She was a beautiful, wonderful person and she was very good at her job. She touched a lot of lives through her teaching and through her time working on the wards.’
Speaking from their home in Iluka, Perth, the civil engineer added that his wife had taken up diving shortly after they emigrated. He added: ‘She was a very experienced diver and she loved diving. She used to go out every week as much as she could.’
A former paediatric nurse and University of Chester lecturer, Mrs Collyer was working at the school of nursing and midwifery at Edith Cowan University.
Arshad Omari, its acting vice chancellor, spoke of her as a ‘much-loved and respected colleague, mentor and teacher’ in a statement to staff.
Professor Omari said that Mrs Collyer had made many valuable contributions in the area of children and young people’s nursing.
Western Australia was already reeling from the death of 29year- old surfer Ben Gerring, who lost a leg when he was bitten as he paddled his board last Tuesday and who died on Friday night from his injuries.
A shark was later caught but authorities do not know if it was responsible for the attack off Falcon Bay beach, 60 miles south of the reef where Mrs Collyer was killed.
Tony Cappulluti, a fisheries officer, said it was the first time two fatal attacks had occurred so close together.
‘From my recollection, we’ve had them maybe months apart, but probably never several days apart,’ he added.
State premier Colin Barnett said beaches patrolled for sharks were safe but he admitted it was impossible to protect all surfing areas or reefs.
If a shark was spotted and there was an imminent threat to the public ‘we will destroy that shark’, said Mr Barnett.