A MAN has been killed in a parachute jump accident at Headcorn aerodrome near Maidstone.

The parachutist, who was in his forties, was making his fourth jump of the day from 12,000ft at around 6pm on Saturday when the tragedy happened.

Police began an investigation after being called to the airfield shortly afterwards. Investigators from the British Parachute Association also arrived on Sunday morning to start their own investigation.

The man, who is believed to live locally, is said to have been an experienced parachutist and a member of Headcorn Parachute Club.

A Kent Police spokesman said: “The police are not treating the incident as suspicious and are making inquiries to establish the cause of the accident.

“The man who died is aged in his forties but we will not be releasing details about his identity until the next of kin have been informed.”

Pete Sizer, Headcorn Parachute Club’s chief instructor, said he did not want to pre-empt the outcome of the investigations but “it appears that he misjudged his height when he executed his final turn before landing.”

Mr Sizer said members of the club’s thoughts were with the dead man’s family.

Headcorn aerodrome owner Jamie Freeman said: “It is a tragic accident and if we can learn from it in the future we will.

“It is something I am going to look into. We have got to wait until the grieving process is over and then I will have discussions with the parachute club. We did have a very good safety record and I don’t want to see it eroded if it can be avoided.

“We need to try to gather information from the other parachutists so we can find out what went wrong.”

Mr Freeman told KM-fm a full investigation was being carried out...