Pensioner killed in freak accident after man fell through cafe skylight onto him

A pensioner enjoying time in a social club died after a man crashed through a skylight onto him in a freak accident.

Fehim Ahmet, 81, was in the cafe of the venue when a man sat on a plastic skylight above, which gave way, sending him crashing into the building.

Mr Ahment died two weeks later from the injuries sustained, including traumatic brain and cervical spine injuries, an inquest heard.

Mary Hassell, Senior Coroner of St Pancras Coroner's Court, wrote in a prevention of future deaths report published on Wednesday<Dec18>: "Whilst sitting in a social club/café a little after 7.30pm on 7 July 2024, Mr Ahmet was hit by a man falling through the skylight above. He died a fortnight later from the injuries sustained.

"The man had gone out onto the flat roof of the café via a window from the flat above and had sat on a plastic skylight, which had then given way."

The man was using the roof to visit friends who were brand new tenants to the flats, her report said.

It emerged during the inquest that the cafe owner had complained about tenants being on the roof before, but the nrarby estate agent, Network Agencies, based in Seven Sisters, north London, had allegedly done nothing about it.

Ms Hassell has now written to the agency and National Trading Standards, to warn further deaths could happen if action is not taken.

She added: "I heard at inquest that, as industry standard, there is no requirement or even guidance regarding action to be taken by estate agents about particular property hazards, say nothing on the property file to warn tenants about a flat roof that is easily accessible via a window but is not in fact safe to access. Such

information is not automatically passed on when tenants change and is not necessarily enshrined in the tenancy agreement.

"In this instance the café owner downstairs had rung the estate agent to complain about tenants from the upstairs flat being on the roof of the café and it was reported that there were emails about this, but nobody from the estate agency had made a note or followed up with the tenants."

Both recipients have until February 10 to respond.