Marketing graduate, 23, died after plunging from cliff following night out

A YOUNG marketing graduate tragically plunged to her death from a cliff after a night out, a court heard.

Megan Thornton, 23, had only been at the seafront property for a short while when she was told she could not stay the night as 15 family members were already sleeping in the cottage.

Megan was fine about that and walked into the back garden which was just 30 feet from the cliff edge overlooking Widemouth Bay, Cornwall.

An inquest heard solar lights indicated the cliff edge, but the lights were not on that night in the pitch black of night.

There was no fencing to protect people from high cliff edge because coastal erosion rips the fencing down.

Tragically Megan – who was aiming to walk home – took a few steps and plunged to her death over the cliff.

The talented 23-year-old had graduated with a degree from Cardiff University and then a Masters degree at Exeter University in marketing.

She achieved such a high level of academic success that Exeter University Business School bestowed upon her a world class scholarship, on a night out in Bude, Cornwall, with friends.

Megan met up with a group of strangers who were staying at the old cottage.

She joined Charlie Pengilly, who she met that night and who was staying at the cottage with family members, and they took a cab to the property.

But she could not stay over as there were already 15 people sleeping there and left via the back door.

Charlie said he tried to call a cab but it seems Megan had set her mind to walking back to where she was staying.

But in the pitch black in a property she did not know, she took two steps and plunged down the sheer cliff and landed on rocks on the beach below.

Charlie raised the alarm and house guest Alice Rogers, who is a GP practice nurse, ran down to the beach at 2am and gave unconscious Megan life support until paramedics arrived.

Charlie said: “She was a lovely girl. I was just trying to get her a cab home.”

Her father Paul Thornton said: “She was very precious to us. We are very proud of her.

She achieved so much in her short life. She was so single minded, very determined, hard working and very ambitious.”

He said the family did not blame anyone for the tragedy and were grateful to Mrs Rogers for doing everything she could to help her on the beach.

A post mortem concluded she died from head and neck injuries consistent with a fall from height.

She was 1.5 times the drink drive limit but was a “fit and well” young woman.

The senior Cornwall coroner Andrew Cox said Megan was of a mind to walk back to her address at 2am and set off but fell over the cliff edge onto the rocks below.

He recorded an accidental death conclusion saying: “This was a tragic accident.”

He also commended Mrs Rogers as she tried to save Megan but said there was nothing she could do to avoid this outcome.