Deaths in 2005

Deaths in 2006

Deaths in 2007

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FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS

Osman, a Police detainee, was taken to hospital two days after being arrested on 4 January 2005 in relation to what the police say were "mental health issues". He died in hospital on the 24 January for reasons stated by the police to be 'unexplained'.

In 1995, Osman's brother Alton Manning died after a struggle with officers at Blakenhurst prison. An inquest jury in 1998 found that Mr Manning had been unlawfully killed but the CPS ruled there was insufficient evidence for prosecution.

An inquest is to take place at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's court. No date has yet been set.

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Paul died from multiple injuries after being crushed while working with a colleague on steel piping stored in U-shaped racks at Interpipe's Coseley warehouse.

An inquest took place at Dudley Coroner's Court on 6 September 2006 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

In February 2007 at Wolverhampton Crown Court Interpipe (UK) Ltd was ordered to pay fines and costs of more than £130,000. The firm admitted two charges of breaching health and safety regulations. They were fined a total of £100,000 and further ordered to pay costs amounting to £30,618.

Barry Berlin, prosecuting for Dudley Council, told the court an investigation after Paul's death revealed a string of flaws in many departments.

Stephen Campbell, defending, said, 'This is not some cavalier company with no regard for health and safety. They are now up to industry guidelines on safety and even above them.'

He said the firm's new warehouse was much bigger than their Coseley premises so there was no overloading and he stressed to the court the company bosses had been devastated by the accident.

After the case Paul's mother Mrs Hopkins said, 'No fine, however large, can bring him back or even begin to make right our terrible loss.

'However it is hoped lessons have been learned by the firm and health and safety standards will be improved to ensure no other family has to suffer as we have done.'

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Brian was working on a roof at Charter Primary School in Canley last week when he suffered head injuries, apparently in an accident involving a mobile platform last week. Brian died in hospital nearly a week later.

He was working for a sub-contractor of Willmott Dixon Construction, the company in charge of the project building the new Coventry school.

An inquest took place at Coventry Coroner's Court on 9 December 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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Dennis Wootton

Dennis worked as a tool setter at Tuckers Fastenings in Perry Bar. He banged his head on a bench, possibly as a result of a stroke.

The inquest took place at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's Court on 20 November 2006 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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Phillip Gough

Phillip was hit by a steel bar being carried by a crane at the Black Country Environment Services recycling plant which he managed on the Union Road Industrial Estate.

Phillip was working on a conveyor belt 25ft in the air when a steel bar being carried by a nearby crane swung and hit him.

An inquest is to take place at Black Country Coroner's Court on a date yet to be set.

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George Pagett

George was run over twice by a digger while working at the council waste depot.

According to witnesses George had been facing oncoming traffic and wearing a yellow fluorescent jacket when he was hit by the bucket of the large mechanical digger. It was alleged the vehicle was being driven the wrong way round a one-way system.

A man was arrested in connection with the incident.

An inquest was to take place at Black Country Coroner's Court on 8 and 9 May 2007.

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Graham Vincent

Graham, a forklift driver and warehouseman at the Parcelnet parcel depot in Birmingham was removing a box from a roll cage containing awnings when it fell onto him striking him in the head and knocking him to the ground. He died almost immediately from a severe head injury.

The inquest took place at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's Court on 23 August 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

In September 2008 Graham's widow was awarded £170,000. The claim for compensation was settled a week before trial.

Mrs Vincent said, 'I would like to express my gratitude to USDAW for all of its help in pursuing this claim. USDAW solicitors Rowley Ashworth were extremely helpful and the solicitor in charge of my claim Karl De-Loyde was incredible. He was more of a best friend than a solicitor. He was kindness and confidence gave me confidence in everything he did on my behalf.'

Karl De-Loyde of Rowley Ashworth said, 'The defendants initially argued that Mr Vincent was partly to blame for his accident, we were able to defeat this suggestion, and secure a number of interim payments along the way to assist his widow.'

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Conrad Hughes

Conrad, a warehouse worker was crushed to death by his own forklift truck. Conrad was in a collision with another forklift truck before being thrown by the force of the impact from his own vehicle. Before he could move, the forklift then came crashing down on top of him. The incident happened at Palletline’s distribution hub at Tyburn Road, Erdington.

Conrad later died at Heartlands Hospital as a result of multiple crush injuries.

The inquest took place at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's Court on 17 December 2008 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

Malcolm Southall, a colleague of Conrad, said he was driving his vehicle from one end of the building to the other and was in the ‘tipping lane’ when he became aware of another vehicle on his left hand side. 'I saw Conrad come round a corner towards me. He had his headlights on and I saw the other truck hit him side on and tip him over. I saw him come out of the truck. He was thrown out with the impact. He landed on his side and the truck came down on top of him.'

Mr Southall said that, a few months previously, there had been another incident when another forklift truck had turned over.

John Bradley, the driver of the truck which collided with the one driven by Conrad, said he only became aware of the other truck at the last moment. He said he tried to avoid a collision by taking his foot off the accelerator. But Mr Bradley said the two vehicles were too close to avoid a collision and there was nothing else he could have done.

The jury panel said they believed it was more likely than not that Conrad was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the incident.

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Richard Murray

Richard, a tree surgeon, suffered multiple injuries and later died after falling 30ft out of a tree in a Birmingham back garden. A seven-metre chunk of tree he was cutting into caught on his climbing rope and pulled him to the ground.

Richard who worked for the charity Betel of Britain had qualified as a tree surgeon only three months before the incident, in Harborne Road, Edgbaston.

The inquest took place at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's Court on 12 September 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

The inquest jury heard Richard was the only one out of four workmen on site trained for the job. He had already worked on two out of six poplar trees, which were being lopped by 40 per cent. Wearing all the right equipment, he climbed the tree before cutting into it and telling two workmates below to pull on a rope.

Steven Varga, one of the men, said the section of tree 'hopped' forward rather than falling on its side. 'As it came down it caught the main line and Richard was pulled down by the weight of the tree. I immediately ran over and I shouted his name first of all but there was no response.'

Betel of Britain stopped offering the tree surgery service after the incident.

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Ricky Bunn

Ricky died instantly from a massive head injury when an over-pressurised beer barrel rocketed into his face at the Gateway to India pub in Soho Road, Handsworth.

The inquest took place at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's Court on 18 December 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

The jury added, 'We have all agreed after listening to all of the evidence from expert witnesses that there was no fault with any of the gauges and pressure valves and that the keg was within the required specification. We all agree that this keg was over-pressurised, which resulted in the explosion. No evidence was provided on how the keg became over-pressurised, which caused the unfortunate death of Mr Bunn.'

The court heard that no barrels had ever exploded at pubs before and that it was 'impossible' for the pressure to have come from the pub's dispensing system, which was in good working order.

Expert witnesses agreed that the pressure needed to be at least ten times the normal level to cause the blast, which left the barrel looking like 'an open tuna can with shredded edges'.

Ricky's friend Lee Abbotts was just three metres away when the barrel exploded. Neither man worked for the Coors brewery, which owned the barrels, or for the freehouse pub in Handsworth, and it is still not known why they were collecting them or where they were taking them.

Mr Abbotts had hired a van earlier that day and had offered to help move the barrels with Ricky, who said he was moving them for the pub licensee.

The licensee, Manjit Kaul, admitted letting both men in although they had no uniforms, paperwork or ID. He thought they were brewery workers who had arrived to make an 'emergency uplift' of empty kegs.

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