Higgins Homes and Four Workers Face Trial Over Fatal Brick Fall That Killed Mother on School Run

A mother who was walking along a busy east London street during the school run suffered fatal injuries when a pallet of bricks being moved by a tower crane fell from height and struck her on the head, a court has been told. Michaela Boor, 29, was walking along Burdett Road in Bow on the morning of 27 March 2018 when the load came down on the pavement beside a construction site. She sustained a fractured skull and what prosecutors described as catastrophic brain injuries, and died in hospital two days later.

The details emerged on Monday as the trial of Higgins Homes plc opened at the Old Bailey. The company, which served as both principal contractor and designer for a project to build a block of flats at the site, faces one charge of corporate manslaughter and a further charge under health and safety legislation. Four construction workers contracted by the firm stand accused of the same offences. All five defendants deny the charges against them.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Alexandra Healy KC told jurors that Boor had been heading towards a row of shops in the company of a friend, Chelsea Mustafa, when the accident occurred. Their route took them directly past the development, where a tower crane was being used to move materials. According to the prosecution's account, a pallet of bricks was being transported by the crane towards a loading bay positioned immediately next to the pavement along Burdett Way when the load was lost.

The court heard that the pallet caught on scaffolding as it was being hoisted, an entanglement that caused the bricks to spill from the load and plummet to the ground below where members of the public were walking. The prosecution alleged that the crane operator, Alexander McInnes, had only a restricted view of what he was lifting, and that the manoeuvre effectively became a "blind lift" once the load moved entirely beyond his line of sight.

Describing the moments that followed, Healy said Mustafa ran out into the road away from the construction site. While some of the falling bricks struck her on the back and hand, she was able to escape the bulk of the load. Boor, however, was unable to get clear of the pavement. She was hit by the bricks, which fractured her skull and caused catastrophic brain injuries, the prosecutor told the court.

Jurors heard that Boor received medical treatment at the scene before being taken to the Royal London Hospital. Despite the efforts of those who treated her, her injuries were described as unsurvivable, and she died on 29 March 2018, two days after the incident.

The prosecution's case centres on the planning of the lifting operation and the proximity of the public to the work. Healy told the court there had been no risk assessment for lifting pallets of bricks so close to members of the public, and alleged that Higgins Homes had failed to consider the safety of people outside the site boundary. "Higgins Homes failed to give proper consideration to the protection of the public," she said.

The court also heard claims about the conduct of those overseeing the work. Thomas Anstis, 69, of Banstead in Surrey, was the senior site manager and temporary work co-ordinator, responsible for running the building site and supervising the work of subcontractors. The prosecutor alleged there was evidence that he "cut corners" in order to save money.

Stephen Coulson, 69, of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, was a director of Coulson Lifting Services and held responsibility for lifting services on the project. Jurors were told that he was not present at the site on the day of the incident. Dawood Maan, 61, of Ashford in Kent, was the crane supervisor whose role involved overseeing and supervising lifting operations at the site. McInnes, 34, of Islington in north London, was the crane operator on the day.

The trial, which is expected to examine in detail the arrangements put in place for lifting materials over or near a public thoroughfare, continues at the Old Bailey. The proceedings come more than eight years after the accident and follow earlier hearings at which the company and the four men denied responsibility. The case has been listed under the topics of London news, the construction industry, Tower Hamlets and Bow.

The outcome will be closely watched as an example of how corporate manslaughter and health and safety allegations are pursued against both companies and individual workers when members of the public are killed on or beside construction sites. For the family of Michaela Boor, the trial represents a long-awaited public examination of how a routine walk past a building site on an ordinary Tuesday morning ended in a fatal tragedy.