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'My James Bond skydiver brought joy and laughter to millions': Girlfriend of stuntman who plunged to his death into Alps mountain at 124mph pays tribute to her 'loving and loyal man'
‘My handsome 007 brought joy and laughter to millions’: Girlfriend of Olympics stuntman who plunged to his death in 150mph Alps skydiving accident pays tribute to her ‘loving and loyal man’
- Mark Sutton, 42, from Surrey took too ‘aggressive’ an approach says friend who jumped with him
- He crashed into a ridge while wing-diving in Swiss Alps and is understood to have been killed instantly
- Wrote on Facebook on Saturday: ‘First trip here to fly and loving it’
- Mr Sutton was one of 19 other wing-suit flyers taking part in an event
- Injuries so severe experts were forced to identify his body with a DNA test
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The girlfriend of London Olympics stuntman Mark Sutton killed in a skydiving tragedy has paid tribute to her boyfriend describing him as a man who brought ‘joy and laughter to millions’.
Victoria Homewood said his death had left a void that could not be filled, but said his ‘passion, spirit, bravery and love will live on to inspire us all.’
Mr Sutton, 42, who was James Bond star Daniel Craig’s double in the London Olympics opening ceremony, died on Wednesday as he flew at 150mph into a ridge in the Swiss Alps.
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Couple: Mark Sutton and Victoria Homewood pictured on Table Mountain in South Africa.’He was passionate about life, nature, the mountains and the sky’, she said
Loving: James Bond stuntman Mark Sutton and his girlfriend Victoria Homewood.She paid tribute to him after tragedy in the Alps
In a statement to the Daily Telegraph, 39-year-old Miss Homewood spoke of the moment her ‘handsome “007” jumped from the helicopter into the Games arena.
Tragic: Mark Sutton is thought to have died instantly in the accident in the Swiss Alps
She said: ‘For those few moments in the media spotlight the world saw the imensely gifted professional and brilliant man who has been tragically snatched away from us.
‘Mark was the most loving and loyal man, utterly selfless in all he did.His patience and kindness touched many people’s lives.
‘He was passionate about life, nature, mountains and the sky. We sorely miss him.’
Miss Homewood, of Haywards Heath, West Sussex, was staying with her boyfriend in the French mountain resort of Chamonix when the accident happened a few miles the other side of the Swiss border.
Mr Sutton, a former army officer from Shere, near Guildford, Surrey, pushed the limits too far on the flight that killed him, according to the last person who saw him alive.
Tony Uragallo, who jumped from the same helicopter moments after Mr Sutton, said the plan was to be ‘conservative’ on their ‘warm up’ wingsuit flight – but his friend took an ‘aggressive’ approach.
The men were both wearing wingsuits and three action cameras to film each other and their own descents.The descent should have lasted a minute
Proud: After his James Bond stunt last year, Mark Sutton’s girlfriend Victoria Homewood posted this photo on her Facebook with the message: ‘My very handsome 007 xxx’
Killed: Mark Sutton, centre, the daredevil who amazed the world when he parachuted into the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony dressed as James Bond has died after a stunt went wrong.Pictured here with Gary Connery, right, the skydiving ‘Queen’ last summer
Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Mr Sutton and Mr Connery drop into the stadium – the result was the most talked-about sequence of the Olympics Opening Ceremony
In action: The moment Mr Sutton arrived in the east London stadium was watched by people from around the world
Dubbed ‘flying squirrels’, the all-in-one wingsuits increase the body’s surface area, allowing users to glide at high speeds before deploying a parachute to land.
Mr Sutton, a father of two, was taking part in the first day of an event featuring 19 of the world’s best base jumpers for a French extreme sports television channel.
Last night, investigators were reviewing footage taken by fellow skydivers to see what went wrong amid claims that he made a mistake while ‘showing off’.
The Queen greets 007 at Buckingham Palace with the words ‘Good Evening, Mr Bond’ in the film sequence leading up to her parachute ‘jump’
Smooth operators: James Bond actor Daniel Craig and the Queen in the helicopter
Mr Uragallo’s footage, which has been handed over to the Swiss police, is believed to show Mr Sutton leaving the helicopter before veering off course.
‘He did not deploy his parachute after appearing to get into trouble just 20 seconds into his jump.
The camera lost sight of him seconds before he hit the mountain ridge near Mont Blanc, on the Swiss-French border.
A Swiss rescue helicopter was called to the Grand-Otannes region of Valais within minutes but Mr Sutton was pronounced dead at the scene.
Speculation has mounted in the base of Trient, in the Chamonix Valley, that Mr Sutton was ‘showing off’ by performing riskier aerobatics to impress his peers.
A source said: ‘These are the best wingsuit flyers in the world.And Mark Sutton was right up there at the top.
‘Apparently he had been showing off a bit. I don’t know how exactly or whether he had said anything to suggest he was going to try anything different.’
In a posting on Facebook yesterday, Mr Uragallo appeared to appeal to other skydivers to take fewer risks.
‘Guys, a perfect run is not one that has you 2cm from death. A perfect run has room for error, please, please, please, BACK OFF, have fun over a period of time and not all on this one base jump.’
The Mayor of Chamonix only recently lifted a ban on the sport in the region after a Norwegian wingsuit flyer died last July.
Mr Sutton, who served in the Gurkha Rifles before working in the City, has two teenage sons from a previous marriage.
On Saturday, he wrote on Facebook about the spectacular scenery in Chamonix.
‘First trip here to fly and loving it,’ he added.
GLIDING THROUGH THE AIR: WING-SUIT FLYING
Modern wing-suits, also known as birdman suits, were first developed during the 1990s and allow jumpers to cover huge amounts of ground at speeds well over 200mph.
The practice uses a special jumpsuit with webbing between the limbs to add surface area to the body and give it lift to enable to wearer to glide towards the ground.
The wingsuiter uses their body to control forward speed, direction and lift. As they approach the ground that is when a wing-suiter will deploy a parachute.
According to wingsuitcity.com, it is generally accepted that wing-suiting adds a degree of complexity to skydiving, with risks such as uncontrollable spinning, hitting an aircraft’s tail on exit and extra material to manage.
Jean-Marie Bornet, of the Valais police service, said Mr Sutton’s injuries were so severe that experts were forced to identify his body with a DNA test – it is thought he was travelling at 124mph when he hit the mountain ridge.
‘We do not know what caused his death but we know it was immediate,’ he added.
‘The weather was good but when a pilot takes part in this sport, the aim is to fly very close to the ground or mountain side.
‘If you do this at speeds of 200 kmh, the margin for error is very small.’
Investigators will consider whether thermal winds may have had an impact on his trajectory, leading to the crash.
‘One hypothesis is that he was too close to the mountain,’ Mr Bornet added.
Police said a ‘close’ friend was with Mr Sutton, who reportedly travelled to Chamonix a few days ago with his partner Victoria Homewood, 39.
On Saturday he wrote on Facebook: ‘The sun comes out for a beautiful day in Chamonix, two base wingsuit flights from Brevent then a spectacular paraglide with Mont Blanc and the glaciers glistening in the background.
‘First trip here to fly and loving it,’ he added.
Trey Cook, editor-in-chief of Epic TV, an ‘online extreme sports media service’, said Mr Sutton was part of a group of 20 of the world’s top wing-suit pilots he had invited to the Alps to jump on film.
Speaking from Chamonix, the French resort where the group are staying, he said: ‘There were two pilots that jumped at the same time.
‘The pilot who was with him (Sutton) had a camera on.’
He added that the moment of impact was not captured on film.
Describing Mr Sutton’s death as ‘devastating’, Mr Cook said all bar one of the group had decided to carry on with jumps in the area despite his death, in tribute to his memory.
‘We had organised a group of 20 of the world’s top wingsuit pilots to come and do some jumping,’ Mr Cook said.
‘It was a really casual event.They had gone up in helicopters and they were jumping. They were choosing their own courses. We were filming them as they were flying.’
Wing-suit flying, first developed in the 1990s, uses a special jumpsuit with webbing between the limbs to add surface area to the body.
This gives it a lift to enable to wearer to glide towards the ground before deploying a parachute.
Wingsuit experts said Mr Sutton was thought to have made a mistake which cost him his life.
One experienced instructor, who did not wish to be named, said the ‘responsible and very calculated’ jumper appeared to have miscalculated the gradient of the ground he was flying over, meaning he hit the ridge as the land flattened out.
‘He made a jump error and got too close to the terrain.’ the coach said.
‘There was no room for recovery.A wingsuit flies three metres forward for every metre that you are going down. You are going down at an angle of 35 degrees or so. You always try to pick steeper terrain to fly relative to.
‘In this case, at some point the terrain got so flat that he hit it.’
The instructor said Mr Sutton’s death shocked the small wingsuit jumping community.
Training: Gary Connery and Mark Sutton make preparations a few months before their Olympic stunt
Friends: Gary Connery and his wingman Mark Sutton pose in May last year before a stunt
Taking to the sky: The British stuntman in a previous stunt
‘GENTLE AND THOUGHTFUL’: DANNY BOYLE’S TRIBUTE TO MARK SUTTON
The complete statement from film director Danny Boyle, the creative director of the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games:
Such sad news about the wonderful Mark Sutton.
As one of the world’s top skydivers and stuntmen his death is a huge loss to his profession.
In a brilliant partnership with Gary Connery they made the stadium gasp at the Opening Ceremony in London 2012 and left indelible memories for people from all walks of life all over the world.
They were a delight to work with and after each practice jump brought their cheery, carefree smiles into the stadium control room.
Their courage, professionalism and modesty was always a boost for those of us locked inside the park.Disciplined and brave in situations most of us would find terrifying, Mark was also a gentle and thoughtful man.
Courtesy of loading the helicopter in Essex, and thereby avoiding the official security ban on alcohol in the park during rehearsal, he and
Gary also smuggled with them an excellent bottle of wine for the crew each evening and before we all went home we would often drink their health.
They of course, as top stuntmen, 600×600 panel lights never touched a drop but they sensed our need of occasional fortification!
The show was built from so many contributions from so many people, none finer and braver than Mark Sutton’s.
On behalf of everyone in the show we were all honoured to have him worked with him and to have known him as a friend and professional.
All our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues.
Thank you Mark.
‘You get people who do really stupid stuff but guys like Mark Sutton are known for being very safe, responsible and very calculated jumpers,’ he added.
‘There is always a risk associated with the sport but you do try and keep that risk minimised.Mark Sutton wasn’t a person known for making stupid decisions or doing things out of his skill set. His death is a shock to a lot of people.’
After news of his death emerged, Gary Connery, who dressed as the Queen during the stunt last year tweeted: ‘All you jumpers/flyers out there, stay safe, make wise choices and know your limits and your locations live to tell your stories one love.’
Mr Connery, told The Sun he had lost a close friend who was ‘smart, articulate and funny’.
‘In any sport where you share a common bond you can make friends in a heartbeat that last a lifetime,’ he said.
‘My relationship with Mark was like that.’
Repatriation of his body is expected to take a few days..
Police in the Swiss Valais canton confirmed that a 42-year-old British man had died after jumping with a friend from a helicopter while wearing a wing-suit above the Grandes-Otannes area, close to the French border.
In a statement they said the pair jumped from a height of 10,826ft (3,300m) at around 11am yesterday.
They said they had planned to land close to the hamlet of Le Peuty, near Trient.
But a preliminary investigation suggests that he hit a ridge, it said.
He is yet to be formally identified.
‘The victim, a Briton, was 42 years old.He was staying in Chamonix (in France) with 20 followers, considered among the best in the world in this discipline,’ the statement said.
It added that they were in the region as guests of a company that makes extreme sport films for the internet.
Mr Sutton and Mr Connery, underwent months of secret training for their show-stealing jump.
On the night, Mr Connery, 43, was sewn into a copy of the salmon dress the Queen was wearing, and the duo were driven to Stapleford airfield, Essex.
Their helicopter was given the all-clear to take off by military air-traffic controllers and then guided into position over the arena at 800ft for the pair to make their entrance.
After deploying their parachutes at 500ft, the duo steered away from the stadium and landed on a nearby bridge.
Daredevil: Mr Sutton in a wingsuit flight earlier this year
The result was the most talked-about sequence of Danny Boyle’s Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Danny Boyle paid tribute to Mr Sutton, saying the sad news of his death marked ‘a huge loss to his profession’.
He told how the two stuntmen would smuggle wine into the secure Olympic site from the helicopter launch site in Essex every evening during rehearsals for crew in need of ‘occasional fortification’ – but were too professional to touch a drop.
‘In a brilliant partnership with Gary Connery they made the stadium gasp at the Opening Ceremony in London 2012 and left indelible memories for people from all walks of life all over the world,’ he told the Evening Standard.
He added: ‘The show was built from so many contributions from so many people, none finer and braver than Mark Sutton.
‘On behalf of everyone in the show we were all honoured to have worked with him and to have known him as a friend and a professional.
‘All our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues. Thank you Mark.’
Mr Sutton also served as a cameraman when Mr Connery made the first wing-suit landing without a parachute in May last year.