Police to name man killed in roof collapse

Jun 5 2008 By Steve Johnson

POLICE were today expected to name a man who died in a massive roof collapse in the Midlands.

The body of the man, an Asian in his 30s, was recovered yesterday evening - 18 hours after the roof of Bairstow Eves estate agents in High Street, Carters Green, West Bromwich, caved in and buried him under tons of rubble.

The scene remained cordoned off this morning as firefighters and structural engineers continued their efforts to make the building safe, with buses and motorists forced to make detours.

Four men were rescued from inside two flats above the estate agents office which caved in at about 12.45 am yesterday.

They all escaped with minor injuries but but the body of the fifth man who died in the collapse remained trapped inside the ground floor of the devastated building until yesterday teatime. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Det Ch Insp Danny Long, of West Bromwich CID, said that witnesses, including the owner of the building involved, had been interviewed yesterday.

He said there had been a "massive structural collapse" and it was too early to say at this stage what had caused the catastrophe or if anyone would be found responsible for what had happened.

Meanwhile questions were being raised today about the safety of century-old buildings in West Bromwich.

Five years ago 10-month-old Trilby Graham was crushed to death in her pushchair when the roofs of three adjoining buildings at the other end of High Street collapsed, sending tons of rubble onto the pavement.

And in the last two years firefighters have been called to High Street, Carters Green, at least twice to deal with roof tiles being blown off and a large chunk of stone falling off a building.