A selfless skydiving instructor has been hailed as a hero after sacrificing his life to save that of one of his students whose parachute had malfunctioned in mid-air.
Carl Marsh, 46, went to help Dominic Leeds when a toggle on his equipment snapped during a training exercise.
Mr Marsh succeeded in helping Mr Leeds to open his reserve parachute but became tangled in the principal 'chute in the process.
He is believed to have lost consciousness when he went into a 'catastrophic spin' after his legs became tangled in the material.
The highly-experienced instructor, who had performed 1,150 jumps all over the world, died at the scene of the accident in front of his teenage son who was working on the ground at the time.
Marsh had gone up in a Cessna Caravan aircraft with Mr Leeds to teach him a two-way manoeuvre called a 'canopy formation', in which jumpers fly their parachutes close to each other before one of them 'docks' onto the other's parachute in a move known as a 'stack.'
However, when his student's equipment broke during the exercise, Mr Marsh went to the rescue.
Mr Leeds - who himself had previously carried out 400 jumps - told the Preston hearing: 'I didn't immediately execute my emergency procedures because I was worried that Carl was very close or behind me.
"I said to him: 'Mate, my brake line has broken' and I remember him replying to me: 'Okay buddy, don't worry.' We were coming through the clouds at this point and he said: 'Don't worry, I'll come and dock on your canopy and we will go down together.'"
"I should have told him we will go down side to side - at this point we had plenty of time to fly down safely before having to deploy my reserve parachute.
"We achieved the dock and we went through the cloud. As we came through the cloud Carl started to steer us back towards the main landing area.
"We had good communications at this point. I saw two parachutes down below me so I said: 'Can we wait a second whilst they separate?' and Carl turned us in a different direction.
"At this point Carl was telling me I needed to break off. I remember having a huge surge of adrenaline as the reality and fear of what was happening set in.
"Carl said: 'Come on buddy you need to cut away,' and he said this as an instruction. I pulled out the red lever and released my canopy and fell away from him. I went into free fall and then deployed my reserve parachute.
"As I cut free, my primary parachute became wrapped around Carl's legs. I had so much adrenaline at this point I couldn't tell whether he said anything else to me but I don't remember him saying anything. I looked back to see that Carl was spiralling with my canopy on the bottom of his legs."
Mr Marsh tragically died at the scene.
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His family said in a statement: "Carl was taken away from us so suddenly, that this just doesn't feel real. Carl was a much-loved husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle and nephew to all of us and we all loved him very much.
"Carl had a big personality and a positive outlook on life. He was full of jokes and laughter and always had a huge smile on his face. He loved nothing more than to have a laugh and joke with us all and never failed to bring a bright light into our lives.
"His enormous heart was big enough for every one of us and he loved life to the full. He was a role model for many and had recently achieved the level of Category System Instructor with the BPA.
"His passion for sky diving was something he got a great deal of pleasure out of. He was a leader and admired by so many and his son Craig says he was his hero.
"It is hard to imagine how life will be without Carl. He has left a massive hole in our lives and we will never forget him.
"Carl was an inspiration to us all and his zest for life was demonstrated every day in his love for his family, his strong work ethic and his happy personality."
Mr Marsh's 19-year-old son Craig told the inquest: "He was the best dad I could have had - he did everything for me. He was always looking out for others and always put other people first before himself."
Featured Image Credit: Cavendish