Council urged to act following balcony fall death

A coroner has urged Hackney Council to take action to prevent future deaths after a woman died following a fall from her balcony while she was clearing a blocked drainpipe.

Sarah McGreevy fell from the balcony of her sixth-floor flat in Hackney, east London, on 16 June at about 09:40 BST.

The 37-year-old suffered fatal injuries and an inquest, which concluded on Wednesday, determined that the medical cause of death was multiple injuries, trauma and fall from height.

The council offered condolences to Ms McGreevy's family and said it would examine the coroner's report and respond as "quickly as possible".

Sarah Bourke, assistant coroner for inner north London, highlighted concerns that a similar incident could occur if action is not taken in a preventing future deaths report sent to Hackney Council - the freeholder of the premises.

According to the report, police officers attended the scene after Ms McGreevy fell and found a wooden box on the balcony and her mobile phone on a window ledge next to the balcony, close to a drainpipe.

The pipe had previously been repaired with "heavy duty tape".

Police were told of residents on the fifth and sixth floors of the property climbing onto their balconies to manually unblock pipes, especially after heavy rain, according to the report.

Photographs taken of Ms McGreevy's hands showed dirt around her fingernails "consistent with undertaking a cleaning task".

"I found that it was more likely than not that Ms McGreevy had climbed onto the wooden box to clear the pipe and had accidentally fallen over the balcony," Ms Bourke said.

She added: "During the course of the inquest, the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern.

"In my opinion, there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken."

Ms Bourke highlighted concerns that several residents reported people climbing onto their balconies to clear blocked pipes and that the leaseholder said he was not aware of any work being done to the guttering or drainpipes following Ms McGreevy's death.

"In the absence of remedial works, the practice of residents unblocking pipes themselves is likely to continue," Ms Bourke said.

She said the council should take action to "prevent future deaths".

Hackney Council must respond to the report by 1 January.

A council spokesperson said: "This is a tragic case and our thoughts are with the friends and family of Sarah McGreevy.

"We do not expect anyone living in a Hackney Council home to clean their own guttering and, like the coroner, we want to ensure an incident like this doesn't happen again."

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