A HAMPSHIRE dad died after falling 100ft from a cliff on the first day of a family holiday, an inquest has heard.

Described as a happy and loving husband, Harry McCabe apparently lost his footing while walking at a Cornish beauty spot with wife Samantha, his daughter Faye, 12 and a friend of hers.

An inquest in Truro heard that Mrs McCabe, a therapist, had stopped to take photographs while her 54-year-old husband had continued along the footpath past the viewing area when he disappeared.

Minutes later, Mrs McCabe said, the girls returned screaming for help and they saw him slumped on a rocky ledge.

She added:“I just wish I could have been there to stop him. We were so happy. He loved life.”

The coastguard was scrambled to Mullion Cove following the accident in May last year, but Mr McCabe, who worked as an engineer, was pronounced dead at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

The couple had been married for six years and lived in South Ham, Basingstoke.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded.