The coroner said he did not find a basis for issuing a report to prevent future deaths, adding: “I find there was no compelling reason why a landlord should’ve considered that placing this little boy on the 15th floor was inappropriate.”
A five-year-old autistic boy who fell to his death from a “compromised” 15th floor kitchen window ‘naively believed that he could fly’, a corner has found. Aalim Ahmed died instantly when he fell from the window, which could tilt and turn, at residential block Jacobs House, on New City Road in Plaistow, early on the morning of May 16, 2024.
His distraught father Makail Ahmed rushed from the top-floor temporary social housing flat and discovered his body shortly before 6am. Aalim’s mother Sahra Osman has described their son’s death as “preventable” and blamed Newham Council, saying she had reported safety concerns about the flat on multiple occasions.
After his death, Caroline Stone, head teacher at New City Primary School in Plaistow, which Aalim attended, said in the school’s weekly newsletter: “As you will have heard, Aalim had a tragic accident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
Contrasting accounts about the condition of the windows were heard at the inquest into the boy’s death. An engineer sent by Newham Council to carry out an inspection and look at overhauling the windows and handles said they were functioning when he saw them on December 17 2023.
In contrast, Ms Osman had a list of complaints spanning several months which included her fears the windows were opening too wide and she did not have a key, the court also heard. Assistant coroner Ian Wade, sitting at East London Coroner’s Court, said the windows “were not used appropriately”.
He delivered a narrative conclusion on Monday, in which he said: “Aalim was an active five-year-old boy who suffered from a diagnosed condition called autism, such as to render him incapable of making reliable judgments about his personal safety and abilities.
“In the early hours of May 16 2024… he awoke and went from his bedroom to the kitchen, he climbed onto a chair and then onto the windowsill of an insecure double turn and tilt window.
“He opened the window and in a naive belief that he could fly or alternatively could come to no harm he leapt from the open window… he died at the scene.”
Mr Wade said he did not find a basis for issuing a report to prevent future deaths, adding: “I find there was no compelling reason why a landlord should’ve considered that placing this little boy on the 15th floor was inappropriate.”
He said: “It wasn’t the fact that it was the 15th floor that was significant, what was significant was that the windows had become compromised.”
The court previously heard a young child’s voice is twice heard counting down “three, two, one” followed a few seconds later by “a loud clang” was captured on grainy audio, which was taken from CCTV outside the apartment block.
Detective Constable Joe Linton, who carried out a review of CCTV footage outside Jacobs House, previously said “it is most likely from the footage available” that Aalim had “jumped out” of the flat at the building in New City Road “of his own accord without the presence of a third party”.
A post-mortem examination found Aalim died from “multiple injuries due to or as a consequence of trauma” from a “fall from height”. Ms Osman has told the court she was “scared” and “horrified” when the council put her young family in the flat, which needed repairs, saying Aalim was autistic with “no sense of danger”.
All the windows were closed before the family, which also included her toddler son and a newborn girl, went to bed. Ms Osman denied any suggestion she may have “forced” the window open to cope in hot weather.
Aalim could have been climbing to get a biscuit from a cupboard but the windows had “faulty” restrictors and her ongoing complaints to get them fixed led only to a series of workmen who did not sort the problem, she said.
Window engineer Charlie Mann said the windows were “all working”, including the handles and restrictors, when he tested them in December 2023. A restrictor is a safety device which is meant to allow the window to open only 50-100mm.
Having spoken to the mother, who said her son had autism, he decided the restrictors should be changed to a lockable version rather than one that can be worked by a button. He ordered nine restrictors and contractors came to fix them in January 2024.
Charlie Mann’s father, James Mann, who is managing director of ABC Ltd the firm where the window engineer works, watched videos of police operating the window from which Aalim fell. He said the window appeared to be going into “dual mode”, which he said could be caused by “misalignment, misuse or force”.
This is a fault which meant the window tilted and turned open at the same time, despite the handle being in only the tilt position. In the video, the court saw that the restrictor did not engage every time the police officer tested the window.
He said that “there needs to be an adjustment, something is not quite right” but he added he needed to see more of the window to have a clearer idea of the problem.
Tom Monk, who worked for ABC Ltd, told the court he went to the flat in January 2024 to fit the new restrictors and spent one to two hours there. He said he may have been there twice, a couple of days later and fitted a new hinge on a casement window.
Detective Inspector Jamie Humm, who investigated the incident, said there was “no evidence or suspicion he (Aalim) had been forced”. “The flat was well furnished and it was clearly a loving environment for a child,” he noted.
He added that soon after arriving at the scene he was satisfied “there was no evidence of a crime, not that I thought there would be”.
John Gray, cabinet member for housing, Newham Council, said: “This was a tragic accident which resulted in the heartbreaking death of a young five-year-old child. Our thoughts continue to be with Aalim’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time.
“We are grateful to the coroner Ian Wade KC for his thorough and fair hearing of the facts of this case, which have at times been very difficult to hear and revisit.”
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