Cassius Newton, son of former Chelsea star, died in 40C UAE desert hike

The son of former Chelsea midfielder Eddie Newton died from severe heat exhaustion during a desert hike in the United Arab Emirates after ignoring his wife’s warnings not to go, an inquest has heard.

Cassius Newton, 34, and his friend Aran Martinson died on 18 July in the mountainous Wadi Naqab region, northeast of Dubai. Area coroner Michelle Brown ruled their deaths were the result of misadventure, describing the tragedy at Essex Coroner's Court as "an intentional trip with unintended consequences."

The court heard that the two men, who had both recently relocated to the luxury resort of Ras Al Khaimah for work, set off at around 07:00 local time.

Hours earlier, at about 02:00, Newton had called his wife to tell her about the planned hike. She begged him not to go. She knew temperatures in the canyon could reach 40C and feel significantly hotter because of the enclosed rock walls. She was also worried because he had been out the night before, had slept very little, and was unlikely to have a fully charged phone.

Her fears proved tragically accurate. The route they chose was a designated circular trail requiring no specialist equipment, normally taking about four hours. But under the intense morning sun, conditions rapidly turned fatal.

As the hours passed without contact, both men's wives grew increasingly worried and alerted local emergency services.

Text messages read aloud during the inquest captured the growing panic. At 09:26, Martinson's wife sent a message reading: "You must be cooking." Five hours later, still waiting for a response, she wrote: "[You are] actually trying to tip me over the edge I swear."

Search and rescue teams eventually found the two men between three and four kilometres from where they had parked their car. They were lying on their backs surrounded by large boulders, their bodies spaced about 350 metres apart.

Although they were rushed to a hospital in Ras Al Khaimah, they were pronounced dead later that day. Coroner Brown confirmed that both men suffered catastrophic increases in body temperature, which caused their organs to fail.

While a previous hearing suggested temperatures in the desert had reached 50C, Brown noted that the air temperature at the time of the hike was 40C, though the canyon terrain would have amplified the heat.

Newton, originally from Poole, and Martinson, a father of three from Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, had met through their employment at a global firm. Following the tragedy, Eddie Newton, who played for Chelsea in the 1990s and later served as the club's assistant manager, travelled to the UAE to identify his son's body.

In a statement, Chelsea Football Club said it was "devastated" to learn of the death of Cassius, who had previously spent time in the club's youth academy. Martinson’s wife paid tribute to her husband online, calling him "incredibly driven, hardworking and ambitious."