Hampshire veteran died from "catastrophic injuries" after parachute collision in Spain, inquest hears

A paratrooper who died in a freak training exercise incident was tangled up in parachutes after attempting a stunt with a colleague, an inquest has ruled.

Sergeant Major Dean Walton, known affectionately as "Waldo", died on October 14 2022 following a mid-air collision during a training camp in Spain. The 36-year-old from Gosport, Hampshire, was part of the world-famous parachute display team, The Red Devils.

Today (December 12) an inquest into his death was held in at Winchester Coroner's Court. The inquest heard how Sgt Walton, who is thought to have completed more than 10,000 jumps in his lifetime, was on a training exercise when his parachute became entangled with a colleague's during what is known as a stack jump - where one parachuter lands on top of another.

A post-mortem was carried out in Spain which found the medical cause of death to be polytrauma and head injury.

Sgt Walton's bodycam footage was played in court, which showed him freefalling before opening his parachute and landing on the parachute of a colleague, Nirmal Purja. Upon landing, his chute collapsed, the two parachutes became tangled and after this, Sgt Walton fell. Following the entanglement, Sgt Walton's reserve parachute "could not be inflated".

The manoeuvre was ruled by coroner Jason Pegg to have been an impromptu one.

Mr Purja, who previously served with the Gurkhas and with the Special Boat Service, said: "It was so fast, so quick. I felt him getting entangled and we built up speed. Had he never come on to my canopy this would never have happened.

"He should never have come and stood on top of my canopy. I could have died too."

When asked why he didn't steer away, Mr Purja added: "I saw him coming towards me in a very controlled manner. At that point I didn't know what his intention was. When you are experienced you're comfortable with them coming that close.

"It [the manoeuvre] was not planned at all. We did not talk about this."

Mr Pegg said: "I’m going to record that Dean suffered catastrophic injuries, because they clearly were, when Dean struck the ground after his parachute canopy collapsed during an attempt to form a canopy stacking manoeuvre, causing Dean to become entangled in parachute lines from which he couldn’t free himself.

“I’m going to record that the attempted canopy stacking manoeuvre was not planned, which contributed to the death.”

The paratrooper's funeral was held at The Oaks Crematorium in Havant last November. His Red Devils colleagues performed a display before the service took place, where those who knew him shared tales of his heroism, from saving a casualty during a gunfight in Afghanistan to giving life-saving first aid to a freefaller who suffered a "catastrophic landing" at an American training camp.

Sgt Walton joined the Infantry Training Centre in North Yorkshire in 2004 where he was identified as a ‘rising star’ before going on to join 3 Para in 2005. In December 2016 Sgt Walton passed the selection course and joined the army’s Red Devils Freefall Parachute Display Team before being promoted to Sgt Major.

He remains only one of two Red Devils to ever jump onto the lawn of the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia - the headquarters of the US defence department.

Sgt Walton is survived by his wife Shelby and daughter Stella.