Tower Hamlets council could face corporate manslaughter charge over girl's Mile End park tree death

Mark Chandler20 January 2016
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

An east London council could be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter after a five-year-old girl died in a playground zip wire accident, an inquest hearing heard.

Alexia Walenkaki suffered severe injuries when a tree the wire was attached to collapsed in Mile End Park.

A pre-inquest review at St Pancras Coroner's Court heard an investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Serious Crime and Homicide Command is continuing and manslaughter charges may be brought against Tower Hamlets council.

Detective Inspector Craig Bradley told senior coroner Mary Hassell more expert evidence is being gathered.

He said: "We are in the process of investigating the possibility of corporate manslaughter or gross negligence.”

Police were called just after 5.30pm on July 17 and attended the scene with the London Ambulance Service, finding Alexia in cardiac arrest. She was taken to the Royal London Hospital but died at 6.43pm that evening.

The tree trunk was decayed and one expert has compiled a report on its state, the court heard.

Mr Bradley said: "We have had to contact another expert in relation to the trunk concerning the level of the decay in the tree and whether it would have been visible in an inspection or not."

At the time of Alexia's death a joint investigation was launched by the Metropolitan Police and the Health and Safety Executive.

Once the Crown Prosecution Service has received the second expert's report it is likely to make a decision on whether to bring a prosecution for corporate manslaughter.

The play area in Mile End Park where the tragedy happened (Picture: Glenn Copus)
Glenn Copus

If it decides not to bring charges, the investigation will be passed to the Health and Safety Executive, the court heard.

Mark Scoggins, for Tower Hamlets, told the hearing a corporate manslaughter charge was not appropriate.

He said: "That requires that at a very serious level there have been gross failings high up the senior management chain."

Mr Scoggins added: "The issue is literally down on the ground, it is difficult to see how senior managers up the chain could have knowledge of that."

The coroner asked for witness statements to be collected from council workers who planned the maintenance schedule of the park and the person doing the maintenance.

An inquest with a jury is due to start on April 11 but will be adjourned if a criminal prosecution is brought.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in