300ft death fall boys were filming ‘selfie’

TWO teenage boys died filming a ‘selfie’ video when they plunged down 300ft cliffs, an inquest has been told.

Alex Yeoman and Harry Watson, both 17, were posting pictures of themselves laughing and smiling on social media website Snapchat while standing with their backs to the sheer drop when tragedy struck.

Mystery had surrounded the deaths of the youths, whose bodies were found at the foot of the cliffs at Saltburn in North Yorkshire on March 24.

There had been fears that the two pals had made a suicide pact.

But coroner Clare Bailey told last Friday’s inquest the police investigation ‘painted a picture of both being happy and content’.

‘No one was aware of them having any issues,’ she added.

Police analysed Snapchat messages which showed the boys standing at the top of the cliffs while taking ‘a selfie-style video’. Concluding that both deaths were accidents, the coroner added: ‘They are stood extremely close to the cliff edge, in very good spirits.

‘This evidence supports the theory they had fallen as a result of a terrible accident.’

Teesside Coroner’s Court was told both teenagers were ‘happy and popular young men’.

Alex’s mother, Jane Hume, told the hearing her son was a happy boy who ‘always had a cheeky little smile’.

Brotton’s Freeburgh Academy, where the teenagers went to school, said: ‘Harry and Alex were lovely young men who had so much to live for. They were both very positive members of our school team and we have very fond memories of them.’