Corporate manslaughter charge over woman killed by falling bricks

A construction company and four men are to face manslaughter charges over the death of a woman who was killed seven years ago when she was hit by a pallet of bricks that fell from a crane.

Michaela Boor died on her 29th birthday in hospital, one day after she was struck by two tonnes of material on the corner of Burdett Road in Mile End, east London, on 27 March 2018.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Higgins Homes PLC had been charged with corporate manslaughter and a Health and Safety at Work Act offence.

Thomas Anstis and Stephen Coulson, both 68, Dawood Mann, 59, and Alexander McInnes, 32, have each been charged with a single count of gross negligence manslaughter.

They have also all been charged with offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 June.

The Met Police said specialist officers would continue to support Ms Boor’s family.

Higgins Homes describes itself as having “designed, built and managed a wide portfolio of new build and sensitively considered conversion and restoration projects across London, Essex, Hertfordshire and Sussex”.

Malcolm McHaffie, head of the CPS’s special crime division, said: “The CPS reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against these defendants are now active and that they have the right to a fair trial.

“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”