Higgins Homes and Four Workers Face Court Over Death of Mother Struck by Falling Bricks in Bow

A mother who was walking along a busy east London street during the school run suffered injuries that proved fatal when a large consignment of bricks plunged from a tower crane and struck her on the head, a jury at the Old Bailey has been told. Michaela Boor, 29, was on Burdett Road in Bow on the morning of 27 March 2018 when the incident occurred. She sustained a fractured skull and, despite receiving emergency treatment, died two days later on 29 March.

The prosecution's account of the events was set out on Monday by Alexandra Healy KC, who opened the case against the principal contractor, Higgins Homes, and four construction workers contracted by the company. Higgins Homes is on trial charged with corporate manslaughter and a health and safety offence. The four men — Thomas Anstis, Stephen Coulson, Dawood Maan and Alexander McInnes — face the same charges. Both the company and the individual defendants deny all allegations.

According to the prosecution, Boor had been walking towards a row of shops in the company of a friend, Chelsea Mustafa, when the load of bricks came down. Their route took them past a construction site being developed by Higgins Homes plc, where a block of flats was being built. Healy told jurors that a pallet of bricks was being transported by a tower crane towards a loading bay positioned immediately next to the pavement along Burdett Way when it fell onto the two women.

The court heard that the pallet caught on scaffolding while it was being hoisted, which caused the bricks to break free and fall to the ground below. The prosecution alleged that the crane operator, McInnes, had only a restricted view of the load, and that the lifting operation became what is known in the industry as a "blind lift" once the load moved entirely out of his line of sight.

Healy described how Mustafa ran into the road, away from the construction site, and although some bricks struck her on the back and hand, she was able to escape the bulk of the falling load. Boor, however, was unable to get clear of the pavement. The prosecutor said Boor was hit by the descending bricks, which fractured her skull and caused what she described as catastrophic brain injuries.

Jurors were told that Boor was treated at the scene before being taken to the Royal London Hospital, but her injuries were unsurvivable and she died on 29 March 2018. The case has taken several years to reach trial, a delay that will inevitably have prolonged the anguish felt by her family and friends.

Higgins Homes, the court heard, acted as both principal contractor and designer for the project to build the block of flats. The prosecution alleges that no risk assessment had been carried out for lifting pallets of bricks so close to members of the public, and that the company 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," Healy told the court.

The prosecution also levelled criticism at the site's senior management. Anstis, 69, of Banstead in Surrey, was the senior site manager and temporary work co-ordinator, responsible for running the building site and overseeing the work of subcontractors. Healy claimed there was evidence showing that he "cut corners" in order to "save cost" — an allegation that goes to the heart of the prosecution's case on corporate and individual failings.

The other defendants occupied distinct roles within the lifting operation. Coulson, 69, of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, was a director of Coulson Lifting Services and had responsibility for lifting services; the court was told he was not present at the site on the day of the incident. Maan, 61, of Ashford in Kent, served as the crane supervisor, with responsibility for 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 continues, will require jurors to consider complex questions about the division of responsibility on a busy construction site, the adequacy of planning for lifting operations conducted near public highways, and the extent to which senior figures and corporate entities should be held to account when members of the public are put at risk. Corporate manslaughter charges are relatively rare in England and Wales and require the prosecution to show that the way an organisation's activities were managed or organised amounted to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care, causing death.

The case has been linked to earlier proceedings, with a previous hearing seeing the firm and the men deny killing the woman crushed by bricks. The trial at the Old Bailey is expected to examine in detail the planning and supervision of the crane lift, the positioning of the loading bay beside a public pavement, and the systems intended to protect pedestrians passing a live construction site. For the family of Michaela Boor, the proceedings represent a long-awaited opportunity to establish how a routine morning walk ended in tragedy.