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Swiss prosecutors drop 'criminal probe' into Scottish wingsuit champion's fatal Alps crash

From the Newshound archive · first published 2 October 2026 · last updated 3 October 2026.

Liam Byrne, whose death in the Alps on 21 June 2025 prosecutors concluded was caused by insufficient lift and dangerously low altitude above the ground.
Liam Byrne, whose death in the Alps on 21 June 2025 prosecutors concluded was caused by insufficient lift and dangerously low altitude above the ground.

Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General has closed its criminal investigation into the death of British wingsuit champion Liam Byrne, 24, from Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, finding no evidence of third-party wrongdoing or equipment faults. Byrne died on 21 June 2025 after crashing into a rocky outcrop on Gitschen mountain during a group jump from 2,400 metres. Prosecutors concluded he had entered an inescapable situation caused by insufficient lift and dangerously low altitude above the ground.

Two other wingsuit flyers in Byrne's party completed the same Gitschen jump and landed safely that day.

Prosecutors ruled out both criminal acts by third parties and any pre-existing technical defect in his equipment.

Byrne had said in the BBC documentary 'The Boy Who Can Fly': 'I was about 13 when I said to my dad I wanted to learn to fly like a bird.'

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