Lord Ballyedmond’s death in helicopter crash ruled accidental

The family of Northern Ireland's richest man, Lord Ballyedmond, have said serious questions remain unanswered after an inquest found that his death in a helicopter was accidental.

Lord Ballyedmond, who was born Edward Haughey, was killed along with the only other passenger and the two pilots flying an Agusta Westland AW139 on March 13th, 2014.

The helicopter crashed in thick fog minutes after it took off from Gillingham Hall, a 17th century house in Norfolk owned by the businessman.

Summing up the evidence at Norfolk Coroner's Court in Norwich on Friday, Coroner Jacqueline Lake said the only possible conclusion was that of accidental death.

The jury of eight men and three women found that Lord Ballyedmond, his foreman Declan Small, from Mayobridge, Co Down, pilot Carl Dickerson and co-pilot Lee Hoyle, died of injuries sustained in the crash.

In a statement issued through their solicitor, the families of Lord Ballyedmond and Mr Small said that, after four days of evidence, serious questions remained unanswered.

“It is still a mystery why the pilots did not comply with the operations manual and adopt safe take-off procedures, or why they chose to deselect the autopilot, whilst attempting to take off at night in dense fog. The families continue to believe after this week of evidence that this was a preventable accident,” they said.

The inquest heard that the helicopter had no technical faults and was equipped with advanced safety features, including an autopilot.

The coroner noted in her summing up that the helicopter would not have been allowed to take off in such low visibility from an aerodrome. But regulations covering helicopters in private use are more lenient than for those that carry passengers commercially.

British aviation regulators promised to review regulations covering private helicopters following the crash and the families of Lord Ballyedmond and Mr Small said there should be no further delay.

"We urge the Civil Aviation Authority to expedite the application of long overdue regulations, expected to come into force in August 2016. This is essential to prevent the loss of more innocent lives in similar circumstances," they said.

Lord Ballyedmond had flown to Gillingham Hall from his home near Newry on the afternoon of the crash to oversee the hanging of some pictures. The flight had initially been due to depart by 6.30pm and the pilots had warned about the worsening weather conditions.

Moments before the helicopter took off, one of the pilots said: “I don’t mind telling you I’m not... very happy about lifting out of here.”

By the time the helicopter left at 7.22 pm, a dense fog had descended and the pilots chose to take off vertically, an unusual manoeuvre in such low visibility. When he died at the age of 70, Lord Ballyedmond was Northern Ireland's richest man, with a personal fortune of about €1 billion, based on his pharmaceuticals company Norbrook Laboratories.

As Edward Haughey, he was appointed to Seanad Eireann by Albert Reynolds in 1994 and served there until 2002. He was nominated to the House of Lords by the Ulster Unionist Party in 2004 but later took the Conservative whip.