Deaths in 2006

Click on the names below for further case details

FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS

Cheryl Moss

Cheryl, a nurse, died when she was stabbed 72 times while she took a cigarette break behind St George's Hospital in Hornchurch, east London.

In July 2007 Stuart Harling was found guilty of murdering Cheryl in woods behind the hospital and was sentenced at the Old Bailey to serve a minimum of 20 years in jail. Harling had admitted the killing, but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Prosecutors said Harling was carrying out a long-standing fantasy.

Sentencing, Judge Barker said Harling had researched and fantasised about murder, in particular serial killing. 'The evil is that when you put your researches into practice, Cheryl Moss had the misfortune to stumble across your path,' he said. 'Your destructive and deadly actions appear to have meant little to you. What you gained and what you seemed to have sought is infamy. This was a terrible and wicked attack. It robbed the community of a vibrant and contributing member with so much of her life in front of her.'

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Roger Gill

Roger fell from a stepladder and died, while repairing a door in the Bank of England

An inquest was held at the City of London Coroner's Court on 5 December 2006 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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Anastasis Poumbouris

Anastasis was fatally injured when he fell while cutting down trees at a Cypriot Community Centre in Wood Green.

An inquest was due to be held at the London North Coroner's Court on 2 October 2007.

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Peter Juszczyz

Peter, a Polish labourer, drowned when he fell into a trench full of water, on his first day at work on a house extension in Charterhouse Avenue Wembley. Peter was employed by a the householder.

An inquest was due to be held at the London North Coroner's Court on a date yet to be set.

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Ferdinand Dela Cruz

Ferdinand was crushed to death by a tenpin bowling machine he was trying to clean. He was cleaning the mechanism when he became trapped and suffocated.

His weight may have triggered the machine to activate as plugs which should have been removed were left in - meaning the machine was live.

An inquest was held at the London East Coroner's Court on 18 June 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

The inquest was told Ferdinand suffered multiple rib fractures, severe damage to the chest and a collapsed lung. He would have been unable to scream or cry for help once he was crushed.

As the night technician, Ferdinand was responsible for cleaning debris off four pin machines, as well as routine maintenance and any problems that arose throughout the night.

Two week before his death, Ferdinand had just passed his level three exam and was variously described by colleagues as 'very competent', 'very methodical', and 'one of the technicians you could say would get the job done'.

However, after an investigation by health and safety experts, it was found that on this particular occasion some of the plugs attached to the machine were not pulled out before Ferdinand went to clean it. The machine was therefore live and Dr Tony Wray suggested that Ferdinand's weight on the pin table meant the machine shut.

Patrick Allen, of Newham Health and Safety Executive, said, 'Had the plugs been removed, this incident could not have occurred.'

Ferdinand's family indicated that they were considering legal action. Victoria Graham, Ferdinand's mother, said, 'If there had been a security guard, my son would still be here.'

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Andrew McGoldrick

Andrew died after being electrocuted when plugging in his guitar before a pub gig on a Saturday night. Andrew was on stage at the James Joyce pub in Kenton Road, Kenton, about to perform for the first time with his band 'The Dirty Do Goods', when the incident happened.

Brent Council's environmental department were investigating the incident from a health and safety perspective.

Andrew worked as a support teacher for disaffected pupils at Copland Community School in Wembley and at Mpower, an education centre in Harlesden, teaching music and media. He also ran a promotions company for budding musicians.

An inquest is to be held at the London West Coroner's Court in Ealing on a date yet to be set.

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Steve McKay

Steve, an experienced rail worker, was crushed to death between a locomotive and wagon at a Dagenham Dock depot. He was shunting the train at the Freightliner rail yard when he became jammed, dying of severe chest injuries almost instantaneously.

An inquest was held at the London East Coroner's Court in Walthamstow on 20 June 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was recorded. Returning a verdict of accidental death, the jury ruled, 'He tripped due to a hazardous working environment, most likely a severely cracked and damaged pathway.'

Steve was probably walking alongside the train when he fell.

Railway inspector Donald Wilson said the cracks had appeared when the yard was used to load Ford cars on to trains. He told the inquest the walkway was hazardous, but stressed pathways in other parts of the yard showed signs of repairs.

The jury raised questions about the proximity of a lamppost to the track, which could have caused Steve to stumble into the path of the train. Mr Wilson acknowledged the lamppost was a hazard and revealed that Freightliner, which takes household waste from several London boroughs, was considering removing it.

Steve's team leader, Martin O'Grady, also suggested his colleague may have tripped and acknowledged the lamppost's location may have contributed to the untimely death.

The court heard the shunter had just attached the spare wagon to the locomotive when the incident happened.

Mr Wilson examined the possibility that Steve might have failed to move out of the way after coupling the wagon and the locomotive. But in a radio message, the shunter indicated to train driver John Pretlove he could start moving the train, meaning he was most certainly off the track.

The family's barrister, Cheryl Drew, said the verdict reached by the jury might pave the way for legal action against Freightliner.

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Gary Leverington

Hasan died after being hit over the head and stabbed outside the garage where he worked as a a car mechanic in Link Street, Hackney.

Hasan was working when two males separately approached him. It is understood the victim and the suspects engaged in a verbal dispute. This escalated and Hasan suffered blows to the head from a blunt instrument and stab wounds to the upper body.

A man and a 15-year-old boy were later charged with murdering Hasan.

In March 2007 a 16-year-old male youth from East London (15 at the time of the offence) was found guilty of the murder of Hasan. He was to be sentenced on 17 April 2007.

It is believed the attack was in retaliation for an earlier argument between the victim and the convicted youth.

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Hasan Alkaya

Hasan died after being hit over the head and stabbed outside the garage where he worked as a a car mechanic in Link Street, Hackney.

Hasan was working when two males separately approached him. It is understood the victim and the suspects engaged in a verbal dispute. This escalated and Hasan suffered blows to the head from a blunt instrument and stab wounds to the upper body.

A man and a 15-year-old boy were later charged with murdering Hasan.

In March 2007 a 16-year-old male youth from East London (15 at the time of the offence) was found guilty of the murder of Hasan. He was to be sentenced on 17 April 2007.

It is believed the attack was in retaliation for an earlier argument between the victim and the convicted youth.

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Ralph Kennedy

Ralph, known to friends and family as Barney, died while working as a scaffolder on the Mayford council estate in Somers Town when he touched a faulty light fitting.

The lamp, a security light on a wall of the estate, had become a deathtrap, and Ralph was hit with a fatal shock as he worked on Mayford’s refurbishment. If the safety wire had not been cut, the deadly current that killed him when he touched the light would have been diverted out of harm’s way.

An inquest was held at the London Inner North Coroner's Court on 17 April 2007 when the jury returned an 'Open' verdict

Detectives and safety experts claimed at the hearing that it was impossible to find out who had snipped the green-and-yellow wire (the earth wire) which ran through the faulty fitting.

Camden council's head of mechanical maintenance, Harry Yates, told the inquest that the system for checking faults was 'robust'. The inquest heard however that: the fatal light had not worked for at least a year; other lights on the same estate were in a dangerous condition; lights were left to rust without regular checks; the council had no records to show what work had been carried out on the fatal light since it was installed in 1982.

Patrick Allen, solicitor for Kelly Ivory (Ralph's partner) and the family, told the local Camden New Journal, 'The inquest heard that the earth wire to the light had been deliberately cut. The only person who could have done this was an electrician employed on behalf of Camden, probably to stop the light from repeatedly blowing the fuse affecting other lights on the block. Cutting the earth cable to save time and keep other lights working made the light a 240-volt killer.'

A jury of three men and four women decided against deliver a verdict of accidental death. They flagged up the cut wire as the reason for their decision not to describe the tragedy as an accident.

Patrick Allen, said after the jury's verdict, 'They clearly did not accept that this was an accident. It was unfortunate that the coroner would not allow the jury to consider a verdict of unlawful killing. We have asked Camden to admit liability for this tragic case but they have declined to do so at this stage. It is hard to see how they can defend a claim in the light of the evidence given to the inquest.'

Ralph's father said, 'It wasn't an accident waiting to happen - it was a death waiting to happen.'

The Health and Safety Executive is still considering a prosecution and Ralph's family are pursuing civil action against the council.

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John Cloke and Michale Alexa

John Cloke, a crane operator, from Guildford, died instantly when the 165ft crane collapsed onto a block of flats in in Thessaly Road, Battersea and he was thrown from the machine cab. Michael was crushed when the crane collapsed onto him while he changed the tyre of his car on a nearby street.

Michael's body was left under the crane for five days after the accident. Safety teams said the debris was not secure enough to move earlier.

Witnesses said Michael was crushed when the jib of the crane became detached from the mast and crashed to the ground, also hitting the two-storey block of flats. The crane had smashed through him and through the concrete ground.

An inquest will be held at the London Inner West Coroner's Court on a date yet to be set.

In November 2006 bereaved family members and residents formed the Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group (BCDAG). The group was set up to organise demonstrations and petitions to bring justice for people who suffered on that night and who are still affected.

The specific aims for the BCDAG are: justice for the bereaved and residents; security and safety of local residents; for the Health and Safety Executive to hold a full and immediate inspection of the site; an independent expert to be allowed to inspect the crane; Wandsworth Council to hold a full investigation into the disaster; for a Code of Practice on crane safety to become law.

In September 2006 Tony Woodley, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union of which Michael was a member, referred to the deaths of John and Michael in his address to the Labour party conference.

Tony Woodley said that government plans for a corporate manslaughter offence did not go far enough. He offered his condolences to the men's families adding that he wanted individuals shown to be at fault to be prosecuted, not just their companies.

'Organisations don't kill people... incompetent, greedy bosses do and they're quite literally getting away with murder,' he said.

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