"A WIFE has told how she thought her husband had died when he fell 20 feet from a seawall.
Julia Corrigan, 53, cried out but got no reply as she desperately tried to help her husband Colin, 57.
He had fallen off a path at Coopers Beach, on Mersea, and landed on rocks.
He had a broken leg, five broken ribs and head injuries, and suffered hypothermia as rescuers took three-and-a-half hours to reach him.
The couple, their son and daughter-in-law were returning to a rented caravan from a wedding reception when the accident happened.
Mrs Corrigan, of School Road, Silver End, said: “I was so scared, I thought he was dead.
“I called out to him, but at first I could not get a reply. when the accident happened.
Mr Corrigan’s daughter-in-law, Karen Bohane, tripped and fell, but as he stopped to help her he fell sideways down the seawall.
The couple’s son, Ricky Bohane, tried to reach him, but the rocks were too steep and slippery. Mrs Corrigan said: “I kept calling and eventually heard him groan. I went as close as I could to keep him talking.
“We called the emergency services – it only took them seven or eight minutes, but it felt like a lifetime.
“They managed to climb down the rocks, but were unable to move him. They had to get the air ambulance.
“His head and face were covered in cuts and bruises, it was horrific.”
Her husband was taken to Colchester General Hospital, where he spent five days.
Mr Corrigan, who is still recovering at home after the accident in June, said: “It was very traumatic. I was slipping in and out of consciousness, but the ambulance crews did an A1 job – I cannot praise them highly enough.
“I was so relieved when they arrived at the scene. I remember when I first came round not knowing where I was. For some reason I thought I was at school."
The couple, their son and daughter-in-law were returning to a rented caravan from a wedding reception
"
Daily Gazette. 4th August 2011
http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/local/colchester/9175247.Wife_tells_of_husband_s_terrifying_seawall_fall_on_Mersea/?ref=mrThe sea wall on Mersea Island is much like the nearby, crumbling and precarious stretch of sea wall that runs from Tolleshunt D'Arcy to Goldhanger.
Some have claimed that Jeremy Bamber murdered his family then made a quick getaway from WHF by riding his mother's sit up and beg boneshaker across the highly dangerous stretch of sea wall, at night, in pitch black darkness, from D'Arcy to his home village of Goldhanger.
I believe that this would have been far too risky, as Bmaber would have been likely to cycle off of that narrow, crumbling and winding sea wall and to have ended up unconscious and badly injured on the rocks below.
I believe this accident supports my views on this.
Bear in mind that the sea wall and the path across it have had substantial health and safety improvements since 1985. The sea wall path was far more precarious during the 1980s than it is today.
