LONDON – The British millionaire businessman who owns the firm that makes the two-wheeled Segway electric scooters has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff with one of the vehicles near his body, police said yesterday.
Jimi Heselden (62), who bought the US-based firm, and who was also chairman of Hesco Bastion, was discovered in a river near Leeds, northern England, on Sunday.
The incident, described as a freak accident, was not being treated as suspicious. A Segway was found near his body, a police spokeswoman said. “It is with great sadness that we have to confirm that Jimi Heselden has died in a tragic accident near his home in West Yorkshire,” Hesco Bastion said in a statement.
A family spokesman said speculation about the cause of his death had been deeply upsetting.
“There is absolutely nothing to suggest it was anything other than a tragic accident,” he said in a statement.
Invented by Dean Kamen, the self-balancing Segway scooter was made famous by then US president George W Bush when he took one for a spin, only to jump off after losing control.
Mr Heselden, a former miner who left school at the age of 15, became a businessman, donating millions of pounds to charity. This month, he gave £10 million pounds (€12 million) to a community project for disadvantaged areas.
He made his fortune with Leeds-based Hesco Bastion, which developed a flat-pack wire mesh “blast wall” container, replacing the traditional sandbags used by British and coalition troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Media reports said Mr Heselden was one of Britain’s richest men, with a fortune put at £166 million pounds (€195 million). – (Reuters)