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Concerns about a crumbling wall which collapsed and crushed a 77-year-old grandmother to death were raised eight years before the tragedy, a coroner has found.
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coroner → see → tragedy
Clarice Berry died from chest injuries after the 3,800kg gable wall of her rental property in Wigan fell and buried her alive on July 18, 2021.
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wall → die → July
Assistant coroner for Manchester West, Bronia Hartley, ruled her death could have been prevented if action was taken to repair the wall.
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action → rule → wall
The coroner said that concerns about the wall were repeatedly raised but no action was taken.
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action → say → wall
This is despite multiple inspections of the home pointing out that the gable wall needed 'urgent' repairs.
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wall → point → repairs
In a prevention of future deaths report published on Thursday, Ms Hartley said Mrs Berry's husband reported the bowing wall nearly eight years before her death.
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husband → publish → death
The home was an end-of-terrace rental property in Greater Manchester owned by landlord S&G Properties (No2) Limited and overseen by property management company KMPM.
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home → own → KMPM
From 2013 onwards, the property showed signs of cavity wall tie erosion, Ms Hartley's report said.
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report → show → erosion
Clarice Berry (pictured) died from chest injuries after the 3,800kg gable wall of her rental property in Wigan fell and buried her alive on July 18, 2021
Mrs Berry's home in Wigan.
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wall → picture → Wigan
The coroner said that concerns about the wall were repeatedly raised but no action was taken
Mr Berry reported concerns to the property's previous managing agent, but his report 'fell by the wayside' when a new managing agent, Kaye Mackenzie, took over.
A property manager from Kaye Mackenzie visited the property in August 2013 and recorded in his notes: 'Gable wall big bulge in wall – needs urgent repointing/rebuild.'
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wall → say → rebuild
The same manager visited the property again in March 2016 and noted that the gable 'needs repointing'.
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gable → visit → repointing
The manager retired when Kaye Mackenzie was wound up in January 2020.
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Mackenzie → retire → January
One of the former partners continued the property management side of the business as the company KMPM.
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One → continue → company
The bulge in the gable wall was pointed out again in around February or March 2021, to a gas engineer who was at the property to install a new boiler, but no works were carried out, Ms Hartley wrote.
She noted in her report: 'There was no monitoring of, and no structural engineer or quantity surveyor was instructed to investigate, the defective brickwork.'
After Mrs Berry's death, investigations revealed the bowing had been caused by 'the complete failure' of a series of wall ties in the upper part of the cavity wall below the gable wall.
The inquest heard evidence that the wall's eventual collapse was 'inevitable' without the necessary repairs, and that it was unlikely to have lasted another winter had it not collapsed when it did, the report said.
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report → point → repairs
Ms Hartley wrote: 'I found that any reasonably competent property management company and/or responsible landlord would, at the very least, have ensured that the wall was monitored for any signs of progression and, by no later than 2018, would have ensured that a structural survey was performed.'
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survey → write → 2018
She added that, had such investigations happened, the collapse which caused Mrs Berry's death would have been prevented.
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which → add → death
The coroner found neither the landlord nor the property management company followed Government guidance designed to minimise potential hazards.
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landlord → find → hazards
Ms Hartley said no clear systems were in place to prevent a similar incident from happening again, 'namely the development of a serious hazard during a tenancy which, as in the deceased's case, is reported but is not appropriately or timeously responded to, or which is not identified by the tenant'.
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which → say → tenant
Neither company carried out a post-incident evaluation to assess whether their properties were free from serious, outstanding hazards which have not come to the attention of the local authority, she added.
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she → carry → authority
In their response, a director of S&G Properties (No2) Limited, whose name has been redacted, said Mrs Berry's death was 'a terrible tragedy and one which has caused me considerable sadness'.
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which → redact → sadness
Among the actions the company said it has taken were arrangements for independent inspections to be carried out for all its residential properties.
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inspections → say → properties
In its response, KMPM said: 'KMPM has undertaken a comprehensive review of its property management procedures and has introduced a number of significant changes to its inspection, hazard identification, escalation, compliance monitoring and project management procedures.'
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KMPM → say → inspection
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