The landlord was not responsible for the death of a five-year old boy who fell from the fifteenth storey of a council block

The Coroner concluded that the kitchen window from which Aalim fell, which had a safety restrictor fitted, had been “subject to inappropriate handling”.  As a result of this, "although the OBVA restrictor was in itself a serviceable, properly manufactured part, correctly installed, it was no longer able to achieve any effective function".  He therefore declined to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report in this case.

Aalim Ahmed, who had lived in Jacobs House in Plaistow, died in May 2024.  At the East London Coroner’s Court on 17th August, Aalim's mother, Sahra Osman, said that her son’s death “could’ve been prevented” if the council had addressed her concerns about the windows in the flat.  Between the family moving in in February 2023 and the date of Aalim’s death, Ms Osman raised issues about the state of the windows with Newham Council multiple times.  These included apparent defects with the restrictor function, meaning the windows opened fully every time, instead of only a few centimetres.  Ms Osman also told the Court that her son was autistic and “had no signs of danger”.