A 29-year-old mother was killed in a horrifying accident after more than two tons of bricks suddenly fell from a construction crane while she was walking home from her child’s school, just one day before her birthday.
Now, more than eight years after Michaela Boor suffered fatal injuries on a London sidewalk, a major construction company and four men are standing trial over allegations that serious safety failures led to her death.
Prosecutors claim the tragedy could have been prevented if proper precautions had been taken to protect pedestrians walking near the busy construction site.
The disturbing details emerged Monday, October 5, during the opening of a manslaughter trial at London’s Central Criminal Court, commonly known as the Old Bailey.
According to prosecutors, Boor had just dropped her child off at elementary school on March 27, 2018, and was enjoying an ordinary morning with her friend, Chelsea Mustafa.
The women planned to visit nearby grocery stores to pick up a few things for Boor’s upcoming birthday.
She would have turned 30 the following day.
Instead, their shopping trip ended in a nightmare.
As the two women walked along Burdett Road in East London, they passed a residential construction project being developed by Higgins Homes.
High above the sidewalk, a tower crane was transporting a pallet loaded with more than 4,400 pounds of bricks toward a loading area beside the street.
Without warning, the load suddenly fell.
Prosecutor Alexandra Healy told jurors that the massive pallet of bricks dropped toward the sidewalk where the women were walking.
Mustafa saw the danger and managed to run into the road, narrowly escaping the full force of the falling bricks.
Some of the debris struck her back and hand, but she avoided the worst of the impact.
Boor was not as fortunate.
The young mother was unable to get out of the way before the bricks came crashing down.
According to prosecutors, the impact fractured her skull and caused catastrophic brain injuries.
Emergency responders rushed to the scene and desperately attempted to save her life.
Boor was transported to Royal London Hospital, where doctors performed emergency surgery.
But the damage was devastating.
Jurors were told that despite extensive medical treatment, her injuries were unsurvivable.
Boor died in the hospital following the accident, leaving her young child and family to face an unimaginable loss.
What should have been a joyful celebration of her 30th birthday instead became a time of mourning.
The incident triggered a lengthy investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police and Britain’s Health and Safety Executive, the government agency responsible for workplace safety regulations.
Investigators examined the crane operation, the construction company’s safety procedures and the decisions made by the people responsible for managing the site.
After years of inquiries, prosecutors announced criminal charges in May 2025.
Higgins Homes PLC, the company developing the residential building, was charged with corporate manslaughter and violating Britain’s Health and Safety at Work Act.
Four men involved in overseeing or operating the crane were also charged with gross negligence manslaughter and related health and safety offenses.
All five defendants have denied wrongdoing.
During opening arguments this week, prosecutors alleged that the construction company and those responsible for the lifting operation had failed to adequately protect members of the public.
Healy told the jury that the crane had been moving a large load directly beside an area where pedestrians were permitted to walk.
The prosecution argues that proper planning, coordination and safety precautions should have prevented the dangerous situation.
One of the central figures in the case is Thomas Anstis, 69, who served as senior site manager and temporary works coordinator for Higgins Homes.
Anstis was responsible for overseeing the construction project and coordinating the activities of contractors working at the site.
Prosecutors allege that he prioritized saving money over implementing appropriate safety measures.
According to Healy, there is evidence suggesting Anstis cut corners to reduce costs while overseeing the project.
She argued that Higgins Homes failed to give sufficient consideration to protecting people walking outside the construction area.
Another defendant, Stephen Coulson, 69, was the director of Coulson Lifting Services, a company hired to help manage the crane operations.
Coulson was responsible for developing the lifting plan and maintaining overall control of the procedures used to move heavy materials.
He was not at the construction site when the bricks fell.
However, prosecutors explained that his responsibilities did not necessarily require him to remain there every day.
Instead, he was expected to periodically inspect the site and determine whether changes in conditions required adjustments to the lifting plan.
The prosecution alleges that failures involving the planning and supervision of the operation contributed to the fatal accident.
Dawood Maan, 61, was the crane supervisor responsible for overseeing lifting activities at the site.
He worked as a self-employed contractor through Coulson Lifting Services.
The fourth defendant, Alexander McInnes, 34, was the crane operator on duty when the accident occurred.
McInnes worked as a self-employed contractor for London Tower Cranes.
Prosecutors are seeking to establish whether the actions or omissions of those responsible for the operation amounted to gross negligence serious enough to justify criminal convictions.
Under British law, gross negligence manslaughter can apply when someone owes another person a duty of care, seriously breaches that duty and causes a death through conduct considered exceptionally negligent.
Corporate manslaughter involves a different legal standard, focusing on whether the way an organization managed or organized its activities caused a death through a gross breach of its duty of care.
The charges are serious, but the defendants are presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove their cases.
The trial also highlights the dangers posed by heavy construction equipment operating close to public sidewalks and roads.
Tower cranes are commonly used in major building projects to move materials that would be difficult or impossible to lift manually.
Their operations require careful planning, secure loads, trained personnel and appropriate precautions to keep workers and pedestrians away from dangerous areas.
When heavy materials are suspended above the ground, failures in securing a load or controlling the lifting operation can have catastrophic consequences.
In Boor’s case, the falling pallet weighed more than two tons.
The victim was not a construction worker or someone knowingly participating in a hazardous activity.
She was simply a mother walking along a public sidewalk after dropping her child off at school.
That distinction is a central part of the prosecution’s argument.
Authorities allege that the construction project failed to adequately account for the safety of ordinary pedestrians traveling alongside the site.
The incident occurred around 9 a.m., a time when nearby roads and sidewalks would normally be busy with parents, children, commuters and other pedestrians.
For Boor and her friend, there had been no apparent reason to expect danger while walking past the building project.
The women had been preparing for a birthday celebration, planning to visit Lidl and Tesco before returning home.
Instead, a routine morning ended with one woman suffering minor injuries and the other losing her life.
Although the accident happened in 2018, the criminal proceedings are only now reaching trial after a lengthy investigation and legal process.
The case is expected to involve detailed evidence about crane operations, construction management and workplace safety responsibilities.
Jurors will have to decide whether the alleged failures amounted to criminal negligence and whether they caused Boor’s death.
For her family, the proceedings represent another painful chapter in a tragedy that has already lasted more than eight years.
Boor never made it home from her ordinary morning outing.
She never celebrated her 30th birthday.
And her child was left without a mother because of a devastating accident that prosecutors believe should never have happened.
The trial involving Higgins Homes, Anstis, Coulson, Maan and McInnes remains ongoing, with no verdict announced.
For now, the court must determine whether the falling bricks were the result of criminally negligent failures or whether the defendants bear no criminal responsibility for the tragedy.
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