Leading wine merchant Patrick Sandeman has been killed in a freak skydiving accident in Cambridgeshire over the weekend.

The 53-year-old died after colliding with another man about 50 ft above the ground. He was a partner, along with Charles Lea, in London wine merchant's Lea & Sandeman.

The other skydiver, a 28-year-old Frenchman is in a serious but stable condition.

Jancis Robinson paid tribute to Sandeman on her web page, saying “a very bright light has been extinguished”.

She wrote: “I’m sure I am not alone in having found Patrick one of the most appealing and entertaining characters in the wine business.

“A total ornament to the British wine trade, he was a member of the Sandeman family of port and sherry fame, managing to be devastatingly handsome but not intimidatingly so.”

Robinson also described him as “well informed”, “engaging”, “great company” and “extremely talented”.

Emergency services went to Sibson airfield at around 3.30pm on Saturday, but Sandeman was pronounced dead at the scene.

He is survived by his wife Katy, who also works at Lea & Sandeman, and their three grown-up children.


On September 11 Lea & Sandeman won, for the fourth year running, the London Wine Merchant of the Year 2012 at the International Wine Challenge.