Bradford & District | Archive | 2005 | November | 3
From the archive, first published Thursday 3rd Nov 2005.
THE grieving family of a window cleaner who plummeted 50 feet to his death after a wooden balcony rail gave way say they are disappointed that nobody has been held accountable for their son's death.
Stephen Wainwright, 44, was working on a fifth-storey flat at Wells Court, Ilkley in March when he applied pressure to the outside of a wooden rail which broke.
The jury at an inquest in Bradford were told that it was most likely that Mr Wainwright, who lived at Trafalgar Road in Ilkley, had either been leaning on the rails from the inside of the balcony trying to clean the kitchen window that was out of reach, or was standing on the outside of the balcony holding on to the rail.
After the jury returned their narrative verdict Mr Wainwright's stepfather, Alistair McPherson, said the family were disappointed with the outcome.
In a statement Mr McPherson said: "Stephen's mother and I are saddened and distressed by Stephen's death. We expected it to come back as accidental death but are disappointed that the coroner has been unable to consider anyone responsible for the problem with the railing and consequently our son's death.
"Stephen was a very conscientious and safe worker and someone should be accountable for his tragic death.
"We found it very frustrating at the lack of information we were given after Stephen died. We were constantly being told different versions of the events leading up to Stephen's death and we were never sure what the true circumstances were."
The inquest was told that the screws holding the rail on to the balcony had barely penetrated the timber, but Julian Franklin, an inspector for the Health and Safety Executive, said that he was `convinced' Mr Wainwright would not have fallen if he had been working in a safe fashion.
He told coroner Roger Whittaker: "I think to impress that much force on a piece of timber about which you have no knowledge would be a very unwise thing to do. To cause that piece of timber to move or break I think would involve leaning over or leaning out more than would be wise."
The court heard that builders working on the flats in the weeks before Mr Wainwright fell had checked a number of the balcony rails. Some of them had then been replaced and Mr Franklin said that if this rail had been in a poor condition then it may not
© Newsquest Media Group 2008