Hackney woman fell to her death from balcony while trying to unblock drain

An East London woman tragically fell to her death from a sixth floor balcony while trying to unblock a drain. An inquest found Sarah McGreevy, 37, who worked as a fashion designer for ASOS, died from injuries suffered from the fall at about 9.40am on June 16.

Following this, a coroner has urged Hackney Council to take action to prevent future deaths. A report filed by Sarah Bourke, assistant coroner for Inner North London, states police attended the scene and noted there was a wooden box on the balcony and Ms McGreevy’s mobile phone was on a window ledge next to the balcony.

The phone was next to a drainpipe which came from the seventh floor balcony above Ms McGreevy's home, which then diverted along the exterior wall. The pipe had been repaired previously using heavy duty tape. Photographs taken of Ms McGreevy's hands after her death showed dirt underneath her fingernails consistent with carrying out a cleaning task.

READ MORE: A Place in the Sun host fumes 'hang on a minute' as buyer drops major bombshell

READ MORE: North London property 'being bought up by developer so people leave' amid £41m hotel apartment plan

Following the tragic incident neighbours told police about problems with the block's guttering and drainpipes. This particularly affected the fifth and sixth floor of the building where residents often climbed onto their balconies to manually unblock drainpipes following heavy rainfall.

A police investigation found no evidence anyone else was involved in her death or that she had any suicidal intent. Ms Bourke said in the report: "I found that it was more likely than not that Ms McGreevy had climbed onto the wooden box to clear the pipe and had accidentally fallen over the balcony."

Ms Bourke added there is a risk future deaths could happen unless action is taken. Along with residents climbing onto their balconies to clear blocked drainpipes, she also raised concern that the leaseholder of the property was unaware residents were taking these measures.

The coroner added remedial works to fix the issue are needed as residents are likely to continue unblocking the pipes themselves unless these are carried out.

Hackney Council must respond to the report by January 1 next year.

A council spokesperson said: “This is a tragic case and our thoughts are with the friends and family of Sarah McGreevy.

“The Coroner has detailed a number of issues for us to consider in her Prevention of Future Deaths Report.

“We do not expect anyone living in a Hackney Council home to clean their own guttering and like the Coroner we want to ensure an incident like this doesn’t happen again. We will be carefully going through her report and responding as quickly as possible.”

Keep up with the latest East London news. Sign up to our MyEastLondon newsletter HERE for daily updates and more.