A Caithness man who survived a cliff fall that killed his girlfriend has spoken for the first time about rumours that he pushed the teenager to her death.
Dominic Long has broken his silence and revealed that vandals trashed his home after rumours surrounding 18-year-old Alesha Wright’s fatal plunge began to circulate.
Although Long has mostly recovered from his physical injuries, the 27-year-old said that he’s still struggling to cope with the mental scars.
His comments came after Wick Sheriff Court deferred sentence on Long, who pleaded guilty to charges unrelated to the tragedy, after hearing how the ordeal has drastically affected his mental health.
The court was told he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has also been referred to the community psychiatric nurse service.
Speaking after the hearing, he said: “When I wake up, I just start crying as I see her face – it’s like she’s around me all the time.
“I also hear her scream every day. It breaks me. It f****** breaks me.”
The couple lived together at Long’s home in Thurso and regularly went for walks along the Victoria Walk clifftop path.
He said they had been walking along the seafront when they both fell onto the foreshore on July 11 this year.
Ms Wright was treated by paramedics but died at the scene, while her boyfriend was flown by helicopter to Raigmore hospital in Inverness with multiple injuries.
Long said: “We usually went to the old Army look-out but the tide was in so we went further along the path towards Scrabster.
“We went to sit on a bench and then went to make our way to a cave. We were both very drunk and the next thing I remember is hearing her scream.
“I saw her starting to fall and I jumped, a bit like Superman, to try and save her.”
Long said he remembers banging into a rock before landing on the foreshore.
Alesha was lying nearby and he recalls using her phone to contact the emergency services.
“I was struggling to move and tried to drag myself and her but couldn’t,” he said.
Long spent a week at Raigmore Hospital being treated for a broken shoulder, broken ribs, fluid on his lung, a head injury and concussion.
Long said his mental state has been worsened by rumours that he was responsible for Alesha’s death.
He said: “When I got home from hospital, most of my windows had been put in and somebody had trashed the inside of my house.
“I was in love with her and would not have done anything to hurt her.
“Being the centre of all these rumours certainly hasn’t helped me recover.
“This is something that I am going to have to live with for the rest of my life.”
Ongoing police inquiry
Long claimed police have not interviewed him about Alesha’s death however it’s understood he has been questioned as a witness and they have recorded his account of the incident.
The circumstances of the tragedy are being probed by a Detective Chief Inspector, who is liaising with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) as inquiries continue.
Speaking about the impact of rumours circulating about his involvement, Long said he has found it difficult to pick up the casual jobs.
“I’d work for £50 a day but now nobody will give me a job,” he said.
He said he now has plans to move back to Ardrossan where he previously lived.
“Thurso is my home town and I love it,” he said. “It’s the people who judge me and make my life hell that I hate.”
Court appearance
Long appeared at Wick Sheriff Court on Wednesday for sentencing on charges unrelated to the cliff fall.
His solicitor Fiona MacDonald previously told the court that he was battling to cope with the burden that he survived the fall and Alesha didn’t.
“Mentally, it is going to take him some time to recover,” she said.
And she added that he has been struggling to fulfil the terms of a community payment order.
His attendance at scheduled appointments had been erratic and, last month, he had been deemed unfit to continue carrying out unpaid work in the community.
But she said: “He’s still engaging as best he can, given his ongoing mental health difficulties.”
Long previously admitted possession of Flualprazolam tablets and breaching of a court-imposed house curfew.
Sheriff David Sutherland further deferred sentence on those charges after receiving an update from a community psychiatric nurse who had seen Long on Wednesday.
The sheriff said: “Given what the report indicates, I will call for a psychiatric report. I think that might move things on.”
Long, of Holborn Avenue in Thurso, will now reappear in court on January 11 next year.
