Gran crushed to death after house wall collapsed on top of her while she was hanging washing out

Clarice Berry, 77, from Wigan was crushed to death when the gable end of her semi-detached house collapsed on top of her on July 18 2021. An inquest heard that Mrs Berry, a retired kitchen assistant and married grandmother-of-six, was hanging out laundry beneath the lean-to carport at her home on Old Lane, Shevington when the wall suddenly gave way, burying her beneath 10ft of rubble.

Shocked neighbours and passers-by who said it sounded like a bomb had gone off rushed to the scene and desperately attempted to rescue her. Mrs Berry was eventually freed by firefighters and rushed to Wigan Infirmary where she tragically died from her injuries.

At an inquest at Bolton Coroner's Court on Monday, Coroner Briona Hartley described the death as senseless and a tragedy. She condemned the property landlord's failure to repair the brickwork which Mrs Berry's husband Arthur had repeatedly complained about. The court heard that on the sunny day when temperatures reached 32 degrees centigrade, Mr Berry had been out visiting one of their two daughters, Amanda Berry-Smith. When he returned home, he found a scene of devastation. The coroner said: "Tragedy is an overused word but that is what Arthur came home to that afternoon."

Investigations by Health and Safety Executive inspector George Smart revealed an underlying structural problem caused by long-standing wall tie failure. The wall had been visibly bulging for many years and recorded as requiring urgent attention, yet no structural assessment or remedial works were undertaken.

Ms Hartley stated: "The senseless tragedy of Clarice's death is that any competent surveyor would have identified it as just that, a timebomb." She concluded that any reasonably competent property management company or responsible landlord employing common sense could have prevented the tragedy by ensuring the wall was monitored and a structural survey performed by no later than 2018.

After the inquest, daughter Amanda Berry-Smith said the family welcomed the intention to issue a report to prevent future deaths and hoped it would reduce the risk of similar tragedies.