Family ‘heartbroken’ as they name missing Devon swimmer

The family of one of two men who went missing during a Christmas Day swim say they are “heartbroken” at his disappearance.

Emergency services had been searching for the area after two men in their 60s and 40s went missing in the sea at Budleigh Salterton on Thursday shortly after 10:25 GMT. The coastguard search operation was called off at about 17:00.

The family of Matthew Upham, owner of an antiques shop in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, issued a statement on his Instagram business page.

The statement on the business’s Instagram story read: “Our family is heartbroken by the loss of our beloved family member Matthew Upham, who was reported missing on Christmas morning.”

It continued: “Matthew is deeply loved and will be forever missed.

“We would like to express our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the emergency services who responded, particularly the RNLI and coastguard, for their dedication, professionalism and tireless efforts during this extremely difficult time.

“We are profoundly grateful for their compassion and support.

“As we grieve and support one another, we kindly ask that our family’s privacy is respected. We thank everyone for their understanding, kindness and condolences.”

Police said at 13:00 on Friday the men remained missing and inquiries were ongoing, adding a police presence remained at the scene.

The BBC has approached Devon and Cornwall Police for more information.

Sarah Giles, who runs a local community swim group on Facebook, said Mr Upham was a well-known member of Budleigh Salterton and the group was “saddened” by the news.

Ms Giles said: “Budleigh is a very small town, and he made a very big impact on the place.

“He [Matthew] swam all year-round, he knew what he was doing… we have lost an experienced swimmer.”

Ms Giles, who is retired and has swam most days in Budleigh Salterton for the last six years, visited the beach at about 08:30 on Thursday, ahead of the annual swim, but decided not to go in due to the conditions and information from the Windy App.

“The waves were breaking at 10ft (3.048m) plus… you had two or three waves coming in all together,” she said.

“They were frightening and was washing quite far up the beach.

“I watched one person who was kneeling in the damp patch and the next thing he’s having to jump up and run back because there’s a wave sweeping around his feet.

“That backwash is just as dangerous.

“There was a lot of people put in danger that day who I don’t think should have been,” she added.

Mike Brown, 60, who has lived in Budleigh Salterton for nearly 30 years, said the sea conditions on Thursday were the “worst conditions” he had ever seen.

After entering the sea and being “unable to get out”, Mr Brown said he only made it out with the help of “two very brave men” and sustained small injuries.

He said: “After successive waves crashing me into the stones, I managed to get into relatively shallow water, but I was spent.

“I had no energy left to stand and I’d taken a number of blows to the head.

“These two men without any concern for their own safety waded in to help me.”