Tributes paid to teacher killed on Austrian skiing trip

                 

Austria's Tyrol region: emergency services attempted to resuscitate Taylor but he died at the scene.

Tributes have been paid to a teacher and "a lovely man" who died after a fall while out walking during a school skiing trip abroad.Jonathan Taylor, 44, fell as he walked back to his accommodation after a night out with colleagues at about 3.10am on Sunday.Taylor had travelled to the town of Matrei, in Austria's East Tyrol, with about 40 pupils and staff from Christ the King Roman Catholic school in Nottingham.

His neighbours Bill and June Bailey, from Arnold, said he was "friendly and bubbly".The Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham, the Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, called his death "a tragic loss", adding he would be remembered by many with affection.Bailey said: "He was a very nice man, both he and his wife. He'd lived here a few years and was always helpful and handy. We're just very, very sorry as he was a lovely young man."

Austrian police said Taylor was the last person in a group of his colleagues making their way back, but for some "unknown reason" fell. He went down a steep slope and then fell four metres (13ft) off a high stone wall on to the road below. The fall left the IT teacher with serious head injuries, according to the police. Emergency services attempted to resuscitate Taylor, but he died at the scene.The Austrian authorities have ordered a postmortem to be carried out to try to establish cause of death.The school cut short the trip with pupils, aged between 14 and 15, expected to return to the UK on Monday evening.

Bishop McMahon said: "I was saddened to learn of the death in Austria of Jonathan Taylor, an IT teacher at Christ the King Catholic Voluntary Academy in Arnold."My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family as they begin to come to terms with their tragic loss, the pupils whom he was accompanying on their skiing holiday and the entire community of Christ the King school at this difficult time.
"Jonathan will be remembered with affection by many people."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in Austria on March 30. Next of kin have been informed and we are providing consular assistance.