County Durham Man Falls To Death On Honeymoon

16 July 2012, 07:07 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A 45 year old man from Coundon has died after falling from a cliff during his honeymoon in Portugal.

Brian Orton was heading back to his hotel in the dark after a meal with his new wife when he lost his footing on a cliffpath, according to reports.

It's not clear if he fell from the top of the path or from an open-air escalator built into the cliff face in the popular resort of Albufeira.

Mr Orton's wife, 40 year old Catherine, had been walking ahead and only realised he had disappeared when she called out to him and got no reply.

His body was found following a 90-minute search.

It's believed the gas engineer, from Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, plunged up to 60ft (18m) during the tragedy on July 1st.

The newlyweds arrived at the resort for their 10-day honeymoon on June 25th, after marrying four days earlier.

The Foreign Office confirmed Mr Orton's death and said it had provided his family with consular assistance.