Skydiver whose parachute was sabotaged may have had secret meeting

A skydiver who fell to his death after his parachute was sabotaged may have had a secret meeting with his killer the night before the fatal jump, police revealed yesterday.

Stephen Hilder, 20, died after the cords on both his main and reserve parachutes were cut before a competitive jump above Lincolnshire in July.

Police disclosed yesterday that the night before he died, Mr Hilder made a 10-mile trip to a garage shop in Scunthorpe. Detectives are baffled as to why the parachutist ignored at least two large supermarkets close to where he was staying and travelled a complicated route to the mini market at about 9pm on 1 July. Mr Hilder did not buy any petrol but spent £14 on other goods, possibly including alcohol.

Surveillance film of him at the Kirk's Korner garage shop and of his white Vauxhall Belmont, registration H782 KAN, was later recorded over. Staff could not recall talking to him.

Detective Superintendent Colin Andrews, of Humberside Police, said: "The reason I am concerned about this is that I do not now why Stephen would go all that way. Kirk's Korner is a little bit off the beaten track and certainly not on the direct route from Hibaldstow. In fact to get to that location from Hibaldstow you drive past various other retail outlets.

"There could well be a simple reason for this but I do think there is a possibility that Stephen might have been going to meet somebody, and if that is the case we do not currently know who that is, and need to find out."

Mr Hilder, a first-year officer cadet studying engineering at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham, near Swindon, had made more than 200 jumps. He was taking part in a universities parachute contest at Hibaldstow, north Lincolnshire, in front of scores of spectators. Leaping out of an aircraft at 13,000ft, he spent a minute in freefall before discovering that neither of his parachutes would open. He landed in a cornfield at 120mph eight seconds later.

Humberside Police, who have drafted in an experienced skydiving police officer from Co Durham to help with the inquiry, have spent two and a half months interviewing friends and fellow skydivers. They are still struggling to establish a motive for the killing. They say Mr Hilder was a popular and happy student with no obvious enemies. DNA samples have been taken from all the skydivers in the event.