Jetski death of off-duty British policewoman in Kenya was a tragic accident, inquest rules
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:14 PM on 13th January 2009
Police Constable Sally Roberts was killed in a jetski accident in Kenya
A British policewoman holidaying in Kenya was killed when waves knocked over her jetski and sent it crashing into her, an inquest has heard.
Pc Sally Roberts, 28, and her boyfriend were both thrown from the machine, which was then picked up by a wave.
Metropolitan Police officer Miss Roberts, from Worthing, West Sussex, suffered severe injuries to her head, neck and ribs from the jetski.
She would have been knocked unconscious almost immediately, the inquest heard.
The tragedy happened in Mombasa on September 30, 2006, when Miss Roberts and boyfriend Andrew Freeman were six days into their two-week holiday.
The pair had decided to try to spot dolphins off the coast using a jetski they hired from an agency at their hotel.
After a wave flipped the couple into the sea, Mr Freeman tried to push his girlfriend up out of the water to protect her as a second wave bore down on them.
In the split second that followed, unseen by Mr Freeman, the wave sent the machine crashing onto Miss Roberts, the inquest at Worthing Town Hall heard.
Mr Freeman said when he resurfaced Miss Roberts was unconscious. She was brought ashore by another jetskier but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.
Pathologist Dr Jeremy Grant, from Worthing Hospital, said a post-mortem examination carried out on October 11, 2006, found she suffered severe injuries, including fractures to the base of the skull, rib fractures and injuries to her neck, resulting in haemorrhaging.
Dr Grant said: 'With these injuries there would have been no chance of resuscitation unless it was in an intensive care facility where there was blood transfusion immediately available and other facilities to keep Sally alive.'
He added that there was no sign of drowning and that her injuries were consistent with her receiving a severe blow by a blunt object such as a free-floating jetski.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, deputy coroner of West Sussex David Skipp said: 'We have the eyewitness account but it doesn't tell us what happened in the split second Sally was in the water.
'I have the pathologist's report which concludes there were severe injuries but we have to surmise from that that these injuries were caused by the jetski.
'There is nothing else which I can attribute these injuries to.
'Obviously there are questions in people's minds and there always will be about the nature of the sea but that was a judgment made by all the people in September.'
He added: 'I think that this was an adventure that people went on and tragically the forces of nature conspired against them.'
Mr Freeman and Miss Roberts's family declined to comment afterwards.
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