Coroner names man who died in South Shields cliff fall

Emergency services at Marsden Grotto in South Shields, where a man has died after falling from cliffs. Pic: North East Ambulance Service.

South Tyneside coroner Terence Carney has launched an investigation into the death of Stephen Laybourne.

The 63-year-old lived in Pembroke Court, Sunderland.

A post mortem examination has been carried out today but the results are still pending.

The man died yesterday morning after falling from the coastal cliffs at Marsden, close to the Grotto pub, in South Shields.

Emergency crews called to the scene found the body of the man which was recovered from the beach below.

Despite the efforts of the emergency services, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A spokesman for the Coastguard said they got the call at about 8am to a report of a man having gone over the cliff at Marsden.

The Sunderland Coastguard, the South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade and Tynemouth RNLI were all alerted to the incident, along with police and paramedics.

The air ambulance was also called to the scene, but was turned back when it became clear it wasn’t needed.

Adrian Don, a spokesman for the Tynemouth RNLI, said paramedics were on the beach below the cliffs and were joined by volunteers from the RNLI who lifted the deceased man onto the lifeboat.

They then sailed around the coast to South Shields beach, where an ambulance was waiting to take the man to hospital.

The Tynemouth RNLI spokesman said: “It was all very sad.

“Saving lives is our main task, but on occasions we go to incidents such as this, and we just try to do things in as respectful a way as possible.”