THE family of an extreme sports enthusiast and a much-loved Cumbria father have paid tributes to a "true legend".

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Millom man dies after paragliding accident



Mark Paterson, 38, of Main Street, Haverigg, was killed in a crash on Friday and his body was recovered from Fleetwith Pike following a search shortly after 5am on Saturday.

The electrician and joiner, who had worked as a contractor for Sellafield, had gone out gliding in the Lake District but tragically did not return home.

Paying tribute to his older brother, Keith Paterson, 36, said: "He was never still. If he wasn't doing something he would be planning something.

"He would love any action that got his blood pumping.

"We would be sat round at dinner and we would just say 'let's go out and let's do something'.

"He had a good load of friends from all the sports he did. He was known as Patty to them.

"I'm going to miss him like hell. He was a true legend.

"He was not just my brother, he was one of my best mates."

Mr Paterson leaves behind his partner, Rebecca Butler, and two-year-old son Dylan.

June Paterson paid tribute to her son, describing him as a caring father who had already taught her grandson to say the word "glider" and to point to the sky.

She said: "The little lad worshipped him. He was a good dad. He used to bring Dylan here and they would play all over the floor.

"He was a Haverigg lad through and through."

Mr Paterson, who twice glided from the Yorkshire Dales to Hull, was a member of Cumbria Soaring Club.

He was a self-confessed adrenaline junkie, and enjoyed kite-surfing, sometimes putting on tutorials off the coast of Walney, snowboarding, playing cricket, and speed flying - a sport which involves participants flying a small, fast fabric wing close to a steep slope.

Mr Paterson was an experienced and well respected pilot which has left his family confused about what went wrong on Friday.

His father, Alan, said: "This is what we can't grasp because he was so good at it."

Ian Paterson, 40, said his younger brother would be remembered as somebody who would always give things a try.

He said: "When he got into something he got into it 100 per cent."

Cumbria police, Cockermouth and Keswick Mountain Rescue Teams, an RAF helicopter, and the National Police Air Service were all called out in the early hours of Saturday after receiving reports that Mr Paterson was missing.

The former Millom School student had set off earlier in the day from an area of Loweswater, travelling a distance of around 15km.

Police are not treating his death as suspicious.

The coroner's office and the Air Accident Investigation Branch have been informed.