Hayden Prince: Soldier dies in Alps climb as rock falls

The Matterhorn is in the Alps, on the Swiss-Italian border

A British Army soldier fell to his death while on a climbing trip in the Alps when a rock he was abseiling from "gave way", an inquest has heard.

L/Cpl Hayden Prince, 24, was descending the Hornli Ridge of the Matterhorn in Switzerland in the early hours of 3 June while on holiday with friends.

An inquest was told the rock he was using "suddenly and without warning" gave way, and he fell 300m (982 ft).

A coroner concluded L/Cpl Prince's death was accidental.

L/Cpl Prince, from Cambridge, served with the 1st Fusiliers and was a junior non-commissioned officer at Bulford Barracks near Salisbury in Wiltshire.

An inquest, held via Skype, heard while on annual leave he had travelled to the Alps with his friends Luke Nibbs and Michael Slade.

Colleagues bowed their heads to remember L/Cpl Prince at a service in June

The group set out from a hut at the base camp of the Matterhorn, near Zermatt, at 06:00 on 2 June and hit a "self-imposed turnaround time" of 14:00 before reaching the summit.

Assistant coroner for Cambridgeshire, Nicholas Moss, said they "found the descent was more time-consuming than the climb up" and darkness fell, but the group was well equipped and had head torches.

In the early hours of the morning they decided to abseil a "difficult pitch", making use of a "fridge-freezer" sized rock, the court heard.

Mr Moss said: "Sadly and tragically as Hayden attempted to abseil down, suddenly and without warning the large rock to which the abseil rope was attached by slings gave way.

"The rock started to fall down the mountain and sadly Hayden fell down too".

Mr Moss told the hearing there was "absolutely nothing Mr Nibbs or Mr Slade could do to prevent it at that stage".

Mr Nibbs and Mr Slade were taken off the mountain by helicopter, while L/Cpl Prince's body was later recovered.

A post-mortem examination found he died from trauma to the chest and right lower limb.