Inquest opens into death of missing farm worker

Monday 26 April 2021

An inquest has opened into the death of a 32-year-old farm worker, whose body was recovered at the bottom of cliffs near La Moye Prison after a four-day search.

Mateusz Ruszczyk is believed to have died from traumatic injuries as a result of falling from a height.

Mr Ruszczyk went missing on Saturday 9 April prompting extensive overnight air and sea searches which focused around La Moye Prison, where the black Volvo car he was driving was found, and the south-west coastline.

The operation involved police officers as well as the Coastguard and Fire Service, the Channel Island Air Search aircraft, the RNLI all-weather and inshore lifeboats, the Jersey Lifeboat Association.

His body was discovered on Wednesday 13 April by search teams using a drone.

Pictured: The inquest opened at Morier House today.

Today, Deputy Viscount Advocate Mark Harris, acting as Coroner, opened the inquest into Mr Ruszczyk's death.

PC Glenn Cleave, the Police Coroner's Officer, explained his body had been found at the foot of cliffs near La Moye Prison and was believed to have died of traumatic injuries as a result of falling from a height.

He said the police were not treating the circumstances of his death as suspicious and had no objections to his body to be released for funeral arrangements to take place.

The inquest heard Mr Ruszczyk, a single man, was a farm worker, originally from Szczytno in Poland.

Advocate Harris has adjourned the inquest, pending the outcome of the police's enquiries and results from the post mortem examination, so that Mr Ruszczyk's body can be repatriated to Poland to his family.