AN ABSEILING trip designed to be a birthday treat ended in horror when a man had to let go of the rope suspending his friend, and he fell to his death.

The tragedy unfolded at Kettleness cliff in Whitby in July when Malcolm Hall, 51, from Skelton and his friend Joseph Faichney went on an expedition to find some Whitby jet.

Mr Hall had taken his friend to the North Yorkshire coast on the day he turned 28. It was a birthday treat for Mr Faichney, who had only ever abseiled as a scout.

Mr Hall, who was an experienced climber, chose the “fixed points” to hold the rope before he went over the edge of the cliff. He wrapped the rope around the edge of the cliff, a large boulder about 20ft away from the edge and Mr Faichney himself, who had the rope around his waist, secured with safety clips. But a recent inquest heard these anchor points were not sufficient.

Giving his first interview about last year's tragedy to a Sunday newspaper, Mr Faichney described the terrible moment he realised he had to let go of his friend to save himself as he started to be dragged towards the cliff edge.

He said: "I was waiting for the rope to loosen, thinking Malcolm would realise that something was wrong and get a foothold. At the same time the rope was cutting me."

Mr Faichney said there was so much force on the rope he "feared it would cut me in two".

"I thought, 'I'm dead here,'" he said. "From somewhere I found superhuman strength and kept digging in, but the ground kept giving way. I was dragged along until I was two or three feet from the edge.

"I released the rope by managing to pull the clips off. It spun me round and the rope just went – I just felt it go out of my hands. There was a moment of horror as soon as that rope slipped off that rock."

Mr Faichney flagged down a passing car to alert rescue teams and watched as an RAF helicopter later winched Mr Hall from the beach.

He said he thought his friend might have suffered an injury such as a broken leg, but while being treated in hospital for shock, he was told by police Mr Hall had died and he was under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter.

The CPS later concluded he took the only reasonable action he could and the charge was dropped.

"It was surreal," he said. "I couldn't believe that I was suspected of deliberately killing my friend. I did the only thing it was possible to do at the time."

The inquest at Teesside Coroner’s Court earlier this month concluded Mr Hall died of misadventure.

Teesside assistant coroner Malcolm Donnelly said Mr Hall was the 'author of his own misfortune' as he had not put the necessary safety procedures in place.

Mr Faichney said: "In some ways this has changed me for the better, I appreciate every day and I'm grateful for the love of my family. On my birthday I am planning 29 acts of kindness, one for each year of my life, as a tribute to Malcolm."