Tributes paid after Eastbourne marshal and devoted family man passes away

Martyn Perry died in January.

The 64-year-old was a retired civil engineer within the waste management department at East Sussex County Council and since retiring in 2008, he travelled extensively with his wife Annette and worked as a marshal for Eastbourne council at Airbourne, the tennis, carnival and beer festivals.

At an inquest this week, a coroner ruled Mr Perry had died from sudden cardiac death – likely to have been brought on by an electrical malfunction in his heart.

The inquest heard he became unwell after going to bed.

GP Dr David Thomas at Park Practice, and DGH pathologist Dr Zainab Ali said it was the most probable cause of death as Mr Perry had a history of low blood pressure and a slow heart rhythm.

Mrs Perry, a photographer, told the inquest she had been with her husband for almost 50 years and they had the ‘most wonderful comfortable life together’.

She said, “We travelled all over the world including the Galapagos Islands in March 2018. Martyn always went scuba diving on every holiday, enjoyed kayaking in the UK and we both had a full and active lifestyle together, which included swimming and walking daily. We looked after our two grandchildren together three days a week, nothing was ever a problem – he had an incredibly laid back approach to life with a brilliant sense of humour. He handled life’s problems calmly with great ease. He always made everything better. He was my soul mate.

“Martyn’s death has been a huge shock to myself, our daughter and son, Juliet and Ollie, we are devastated. It seems unthinkable he could just lie down in bed and die.”