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An inquiry into possible criminal activity following the death of Scottish wingsuit pilot Liam Byrne has been formally closed. Byrne, a 24-year-old British champion, died after a wingsuit jump in the Swiss Alps last June. He took off from Gitschen mountain at an altitude of 7,874 feet (2,400 meters) but tragically collided with the mountainside.
The Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office investigated the circumstances of the accident. Documents reviewed by BBC Scotland News revealed that the authorities decided to halt the proceedings due to insufficient evidence of wrongdoing. The report noted that the initial two wingsuit flyers landed safely, while Byrne suffered fatal injuries during his descent.
Liam Byrne, originally from Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, was highly experienced and had completed thousands of jumps throughout his career. He was featured in the 2024 BBC documentary *The Boy Who Can Fly*, in which he described his passion for flying. Byrne explained, “I think I was about 13 when I said to my dad that I wanted to learn to fly like a bird.” His enthusiasm for extreme sports started early; by age 12, he had already climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.
Throughout his youth, Byrne pursued several adventurous activities, including dog sledging in the Arctic and scuba diving. By age 14, he was licensed to paraglide, and by 16, he had completed his first skydive. At 18, he started wearing wingsuits, describing them as a “second skin” that allowed controlled movement through the air. In their statement following his death, his family remembered him as someone who “chased life in a way that most of us only dream of” and understood that flying was “where he felt most alive.”
The official investigation concluded there was no evidence of criminal acts or equipment failure. The report stated, “The fatal crash was, with a high degree of probability, attributable to a situation from which there was no escape, resulting from insufficient lift and the low altitude above the ground.” It further confirmed that “the proceedings are therefore discontinued,” affirming the incident was a tragic accident rather than a result of negligence or criminal conduct
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