'Poor maintenance' blamed for death of university worker
Poor maintenance has been blamed for the death of a university worker who was struck by a 'rotten' roofing panel outside Starbucks during Storm Doris, a month after getting engaged.
Jurors were told the section of a water tank cover - similar in size to a dining table - hit Tahnie Martin after falling from the roof of a six-storey building last February.
Following a five-day inquest into the 29-year-old university worker's death in Wolverhampton city centre, West Midlands, a narrative verdict was returned.
Jurors were told the section of a water tank cover - similar in size to a dining table - hit Tahnie Martin after falling from the roof of a six-storey building during Storm Doris last February
The jury of three men and seven women found today: 'Tahnie Martin was struck by half of a large wooden panel which had broken away from a disused water tank on the roof of the Black Rock building.
'The large, heavy panel which struck Ms Martin became detached from the plant room roof of the building due to strong winds, caused by Storm Doris.
'It became detached due to the absence of maintenance which had resulted in bad rot, corroded and defective fixtures.'
In evidence, the inquest heard the panel was blown around 'like a piece of paper' for up for 20 seconds, an inquest has heard.
Ms Martin had been walking with Wolverhampton University's head of marketing, Raman Sarpal, who was also knocked to the ground and treated for a leg injury.
Ms Sarpal had described her colleague as a 'fab girl' and a good worker.
Ms Martin, a 29-year-old university worker from Stafford, was pronounced dead near Wolverhampton's Mander Centre shopping centre after suffering head injuries
The pair had been chatting about how windy it was when they were knocked to the ground.
When she next looked across at Ms Martin, Ms Sarpal could see her friend being given CPR.
Ms Martin, from Stafford, who was engaged to be married, was pronounced dead near Wolverhampton's Mander Centre shopping centre after suffering head injuries.
A statement read to the court on behalf of Ms Sarpal paid tribute to Ms Martin as a 'fab girl' and a good colleague
Emma Whitting, assistant coroner for the Black Country, was told part of the cover, which a witness had described in court as looking rotten, landed in Dudley Street, while a smaller section did not reach ground level.
After the verdict, Ms Whitting told Ms Martin's family attending the hearing: 'To you this must seem a senseless death.
'Tahnie was just embarking on a new, exciting phase of her life, with a job she loved and a marriage planned.
'It was all so suddenly and so cruelly taken away from her by a piece of rotten timber, making its way on to an ordinary shopping street.'
The coroner is now sending a prevention of future deaths report to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, to address the apparent lack of requirement for surveyors to indicate building areas which have not been accessed as part of a survey.
Following the inquest, in a statement issued on behalf of the family, solicitor Deborah Robinson said it had been 'a difficult process' but gave their thanks to those involved in the investigation into Ms Martin's death.
Meanwhile, a separate health and safety investigation by Wolverhampton City Council is continuing.
Afterwards, Richard Phillips, a city council solicitor, said: 'We are working closely with the family and keeping them informed of our investigation.
The inquest was told Ms Martin was walking with Wolverhampton University's head of marketing, Raman Sarpal, who was knocked to the ground and treated for a leg injury
The scene where Tahnie Lee Martin, 29 tragically died in February when Storm Doris hit Britain
'Our role is to determine whether there has been any breach of health and safety legislation and our investigation continues.'
Speaking afterwards, Katharine Clough, Wolverhampton University's external relations director, said: 'We were all really shocked and upset by Tahnie's death.
'We feel privileged and honoured to have worked alongside her. She was one of our shining stars, a talented and creative marketing professional with an enthusiasm and smile which were infectious.
FIANCE'S TRIBUTE Quoting 'The Beautiful and the Damned', her fiance Shaun Lee said: 'It is difficult to find the words. 'She had so much to look forward to. Our lives will never be the same again. 'She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. 'She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn't beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul.'
'Tahnie was extremely popular with her colleagues and is hugely missed. There is not a day goes by when we don't think about her.
'Our thoughts are particularly with Shaun, Tahnie's fiance, her mum and dad and her close friends. This will have been an extremely difficult time for them.
'We will remember Tahnie as the warm, effervescent, fun soul she was.'
Earlier this week, the court heard how Tahnie was determined 2017 would be 'their year' and the couple had recently bought their first home together.
The inquest heard how Tahnie and Shaun first met when they were both working at adhesives firm Bostik. They met on his first day when she was trying to fix a computer. They started dating shortly afterwards and became engaged in January 2017.
In her last Valentine's Day card to him, Tahnie had written how she was so excited to spend the rest of her life with him and that 2017 was going to be 'their year'.
Shaun said she had originally wanted to become a war correspondent and studied American studies and journalism at Lincoln University before deciding she wanted to move into marketing.
During her school years, she had developed an interest in the Holocaust and had struck up a friendship with a Holocaust survivor. Because of this, her family had set up a donation page in her name following her death for the National Holocaust Centre and Museum in Newark.
So far, almost £1,000 has been raised in her name and the centre is to shortly plant a white rose bush in her name with a plaque in her memory.