Escape bid sealed fate of tragic cave pair
7:27am Friday 16th May 2008
AN experienced caver who drowned during a trip with his novice companion was trying to guide her to safety, an inquest was told yesterday.
The hearing was told that the pair would have survived if they had stayed where they were when the water began to rise.
Stuart John Goodwill, from Darlington, and Caroline Jane Fletcher, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, died as they tried to escape from the Alum Pot cave system, near Selside, in the Yorkshire Dales, on December 27 last year.
David Gallivan, a duty controller with the cave rescue team which tried to save them, told the inquest that he believed Mr Goodwill, 33, was trying to lead the pair above ground.
He said they were trying to reach a dry ox bow cave from another cave and Mr Goodwill went ahead to secure his rope before he went back for 28-year-old Miss Fletcher.
When one of them lost their footing, they became tangled and were overpowered in up to 3ft of fast-flowing flood water.
The pair, who were engineers for sister companies, had intended to go to Yordas Cave, another system in the area. Mr Gallivan believes that because of the rain, they decided to go to Alum Pot, a cave used by beginners.
Miss Fletcher was a novice caver and some of her equipment still had its price tag.
He believes the couple went into the caves, but decided to turn back when they reached the Dollytubs section, because of the rain and cold.
Mr Gallivan said: "I assume they had gone down into the Dollytubs area. They may have gone down the first pitch and realised the water levels were quite high and were hit by a small flood pulse.
"Where they were, they could have been drenched very quickly and become very cold.
"Assuming they were wet and cold, they would have struggled to get out," he added.
"They got to the Plank Pool and to the first ox bow. I am assuming possibly because of that, and hypothermia setting in, they tried to make their way to the surface which was only 100m away."
Mr Goodwill's wife, Claire, raised the alarm when he failed to return, and police called the cave rescue organisation.
The pair were discovered from the light of one of the rescuer's torches, at 3.20am. Mr Goodwill's rope was tied to the cave wall infront of them.
Mr Gallivan said: "We will never know what happened. My assumption is that if they could have sat and waited, they would have been fine.
"The decision to exit the cave for whatever reason was the mistake."
Mr Gallivan said rain on previous days meant any more water would form flash floods underground.
Coroner Geoff Fell recorded a verdict of accidental death in both cases at the hearing, at Skipton Magistrates' Court.
He said: "Stuart probably went back to give some help to Caroline.
Had they got to the next ox bow, they would have been close to the exit. As an experienced caver, I am sure Stuart would have made - for him and, more importantly Caroline - the right decision to get out of the cave."
However, he also warned of the dangers of going into the cave during rain, and said: "I think the decisions to go into the system were far less complex than the decisions Stuart was faced with in trying to exit."
Mrs Goodwill said the outcome was as she expected, and said: "Stuart was outgoing, fantastic and diligent. I do not know anyone who did not like him. Everything he did, he was good at. He did not stop until he mastered it."
Mr Goodwill, from Haydock, in Merseyside, met his wife when she went to college there and moved to Darlington three years ago when they married.
Mr Goodwill, who worked for JN Bentley's, based in Skipton, enjoyed other outdoor pursuits including rock climbing, ice climbing, power-kiting, swimming and walking.
He has also recently tried via ferrata, a form of mountain walking with ropes and ladders, and planned to go to Italy this year.
During the inquest, Miss Fletcher, who worked for Mott MacDonald Bentley, a subsidiary of JN Bentley's, was described as the life and soul of any party.
Her father, Paul, said: "She was an ambitious person who wanted to work hard at any job she had."