Inquest into the Suspected Death of Stephen ANGEL
Inquest into the Suspected Death of Stephen ANGEL
Delivered on : 27 October 2025
Delivered at : Perth
Finding of : Coroner Nelson
Recommendations : N/A
Orders/Rules : N/A
Suppression Order : N/A
Summary : Stephen Angel (Stephen) was kayaking in the ocean off Cape Peron, Rockingham on the morning of 3 April 2019. He was not wearing a life jacket and was using a downriver kayak. At 10.58am, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre was notified that a personal locator beacon registered to Stephen had been activated at a location approximately 1.5 nautical miles off the coast of Cape Peron.
An extensive inter-agency search was mounted and continued for three days but was unsuccessful in locating Stephen. Stephen’s abandoned kayak, paddle and the beacon were found in different areas during the search.
Since his disappearance, extensive enquiries have been made by officers of the Missing Person Team within the WA Police’s Homicide Squad, both domestically and internationally. Those investigations included exploration of the possibility that Stephen had staged his disappearance to avoid pending criminal charges. No cogent evidence in support of that hypothesis has been discovered.
Investigating police concluded that Stephen had likely died on 3 April 2019 whilst kayaking, and that there are no suspicious circumstances in his disappearance.
The Coroner was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt on the evidence adduced at the inquest that Stephen is deceased. The Coroner determined that for unknown reasons Stephen kayaked into open ocean waters in a kayak that was not suitable for that purpose, and in entirely unfavourable conditions. The Coroner was satisfied that an incident has occurred which has prompted Stephen to activate the beacon, after which he has succumbed and died, and that his body has submerged in deep ocean waters and was not able to be located during the marine search.
The Coroner concluded that the cause of Stephen’s death must remain unascertained and where verdicts of natural causes, accident, misadventure or suicide could not be excluded, made an open finding as to the manner of Stephen’s death.
Catch Words : Missing Person : Air and Marine Search : Open Finding
Last updated: 20 November 2025