Window plunge killed plasterer

7:03pm Tuesday 25th March 2008

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By Deborah Lewis »

A PLASTERER fell to his death through a "deficient" hotel window, an inquest heard.

And Victor Docherty's fiancée said she would be taking legal action against the hotel and a council for alleged negligence.

Mr Docherty, 35, a former doorman in Burnley, Blackburn and Rossendale, was working in London at the time of his death on February 4, 2007.

He was found with severe head injuries in front of the Hotel Angela, Hammersmith.

An inquest at West London Coroner's Court yesterday heard Mr Docherty, who lived with fiancée Dawn Huggard in Rising Bridge, had been in London as a subcontractor for Wayne Mitchell dec-orators.

The court heard he had a few drinks with work colleagues Mark Wynne and Jason Banyard on February 3.

They described him as being "in great spirits, having a laugh and a joke".

They left him in a pub and he later went back alone to Hotel Angela in Shepherds Bush Road, where he was staying in a second floor room.

A post mortem examination and toxicology reports found 187mg of alcohol in Mr Docherty's blood, plus ecstasy drug.

The court was told a window in his room was "deficient" due to a faulty handle, and could open wider than the recommended 10cm.

The sill was also lower than recommended British standard.

Health and safety officer Stuart Page said the last inspection of the hotel by Hammersmith and Fulham Council was in 2004.

The manager was told to carry out a risk assessment, but had not been told the windows needed altering.

Coroner Victoria Toy said it remained "hazy" what led to Mr Docherty's death, but there was no evidence it was deliberate, or of any foul play.

She recorded a verdict of accidental injury.

Miss Huggard, a nurse, of Roundhill View, said: "I am not leaving this here.

"I appreciate it was an accident but it shouldn't have happened."

She added she believed her fiance's drink had been spiked, saying he "never touched drugs".

Mr Docherty was originally from Blackley but moved to Rossendale as a teenager, becoming a star member of the Haslingden-based Lancashire Constabulary boxing club.