A MEMBER of an elite Dutch police unit training at a popular west Cornwall climbing spot died after suffering severe head injuries in a fall, Cornwall Coroner's Court heard.
Johannes Henrik Jan Westerveen, known as Jeroen, was on the "urban lead climbing" training course with the Netherlands Police Academy in June last year.
Officers complete the specialist course with two weeks climbing on the cliffs at Bosigran, near Zennor – an area famous for attracting UK special forces and other elite units as well as social climbers.
The inquest heard that the 33-year-old father of two was one of the fittest and strongest in a very fit and strong group of men.
But on June 20 last year, while leading two other police officers on a climb known as Little Brown Jug – classified as 'very severe' in climbing guides – he fell and suffered severe head injuries. He was airlifted by a rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose but died later at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske.
Mr Westerveen's party consisted of 15 climbers, including ten instructors, all Dutch officers from the Netherlands Police Academy.
They gave evidence via statement and were granted anonymity by Cornwall Coroner Emma Carlyon under protocols involving foreign police officers, she said.
Officer A said: "I heard him say he could not do it. I then heard him say, in a very calm voice, I think I will fall in a minute."
Witnesses said Mr Westerveen was unable to find a good place to put his foot and had first placed and then replaced a piece of safety equipment – known as a "nut" – in a crack in the rock.
Another officer said he became more tense and began to swear as he realised he could go neither up or down.
The court heard Mr Westerveen then lost his balance and fell, pushing himself away from the rock and dislodging the piece of safety equipment securing him to his spot as he did so.
Witnesses saw him turn in the air so that he fell headfirst, hitting his head on a rock before coming to rest suspended from his rope, which was secured on another piece of safety kit further down the cliff face.
Officer B said: "I heard Jeroen scream briefly and then was completely silent."
His colleagues saw blood coming from the back of his head and quickly called 999, the court heard.
A post-mortem examination found that Mr Westerveen died of a brain injury as a result of a skull fracture. Cornwall Coroner Emma Carlyon recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Mr Westerveen's partner, Danielle Glasmeier, who travelled to the inquest from Holland, said he left two daughters aged 1 and 2.
