Elderly woman dies in cliff fall
Posted: November 14, 2015
Posted in: Personal Injury Wrongful & Accidental Death
An elderly woman from the Isle of Wight has died after falling from an 18ft cliff edge. Maureen Bean, aged 79, had been walking along the cliff with her heavy handbag on one shoulder, which caused her to lose balance and fall. It was heard that she had visited her GP not long before the fatal accident with concerns about her balance.
The accident happened when Mrs Bean, her husband, Derek, and a group of old family friends had been out for an afternoon walk in July at Portland Bill in Dorset. When she fell, a number of onlookers rushed to the scene, but unfortunately she landed on rocks below.
A “terrible accident”
The grandmother-of-one suffered a severe head injury in the fall, and despite the best efforts of a group of nearby medical students to resuscitate her, she was declared dead at the scene.
The Bournemouth Coroner’s Court inquest raised the fact that Mrs Bean had already been to her GP with balance concerns, however it was ruled that the weight of her bag alone (10lb) could have been enough to cause the accident.
The Bournemouth inquest described her death as a “terrible accident“.
Mrs Bean’s family said: “Maureen Bean leaves behind her a loving husband, two children and their spouses, a granddaughter and a sister, all of whom are devastated by her loss.”
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