Teen plunged 100ft to death from cliff trying to save pet dog that chased rabbit

A teenager who ran after her dog on a cliff edge died when more than 100ft, an inquest heard.

Keeleigh Plant had been walking her with her new boyfriend in May 2023 when one ran off, chasing a rabbit. When her beloved pet did not return, Keeleigh, 18, ran after it, and fell down the side of the tall cliff at Hope Cove in south Devon. The teenager plunged more than 100 feet onto a rocky beach below and died from multiple injuries despite the best efforts of rescuers and people in the area to save her life.

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Her boyfriend Oliver told Exeter Coroner's Court he had not walked this part of the coastal path before but Keeleigh had with her sister as she regularly exercised the pets over a five mile trek. He said the were off their leads when they saw the rabbit and ran after it with Bertie running towards the cliff edge. He explained how they stepped over a low wooden railing near the edge.

They grabbed Cooper and put him on his lead but Keeleigh was leaning over a few feet from the cliff edge trying to retrieve Bertie. Oliver could only partially see her but then she fell and he did not know if she had lost her footing or the cliff edge had crumbled.

"We were both trying to get them back. I was not close enough to grab her," he said.

Police went to the scene and said the cliff edge was uneven and jagged but there were no suspicious circumstances. A witness sitting on a bench nearby said she could hear Keeleigh calling the dog and could see her bottom as she leaned over the cliff edge. She added: “I did not hear her scream. She was not pushed.”

Keeleigh, from Galmpton, Devon, had been due to take a gap year before going to Winchester University to study finance. Her mother Pauline said Keeleigh was “a private person and home was her safe place”.

She added Keeleigh was a good student who asked for additional school work. The area coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Alison Longhorn recorded an accidental death conclusion. She said the teenager died while attempting to retrieve her dog.

"This was a really tragic accident," she said. "Sadly cliffs are dangerous places and people try to rescue their dogs without thinking of their own safety."