Skydiver's girlfriend says it was not suicide
The girlfriend of British skydiver Stephen Hilder believes he did not commit suicide, she said today.
Ruth Woodhouse, aged 24, said she was not convinced by forensic evidence which suggested the British army cadet cut the straps on his parachute before plunging 13,000ft to his death in Lincolnshire.
Miss Woodhouse spoke out after a Humberside Police investigation concluded last week that 20-year-old Mr Hilder was not murdered.
Detectives revealed that an examination of a pair of scissors found in Mr Hilder’s car had shown they had been used to cut the material and that only his DNA was found on them.
Ms Woodhouse, from Ingestre, near Stafford, told the Birmingham Post: “I don’t believe it was suicide.
“I’ve studied forensic suicide and I feel the evidence is still only circumstantial.
“You cannot be sure nobody else touched these scissors or even that the fibres on the bag didn’t just rub off on his clothes.
“Even in hindsight there’s nothing to suggest he was unhappy about anything.”
Officers investigating the cadet’s death at a national parachuting tournament at Hibaldstow airfield, Lincolnshire, on July 4 last year have also publicly cleared two of his friends and jump companions of any involvement.
David Mason and Adrian Blair were arrested and spent a night in custody during the inquiry into what police originally thought was the cadet’s murder.
The death is now being treated as unexplained and an inquest will be held.
