IOPC witness appeal after man falls to his death from tree in London

We are appealing for witnesses after starting an investigation into Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) contact with a man before he fell to his death from a tree in London yesterday (Friday 20 March).

It happened at around 8.45am on the Lillington Gardens estate at the junction of Tachbrook Street and Charlwood Street. We understand that when officers arrived in response to a reported disturbance there, a man climbed into a tree. A short time later he fell onto the pavement below and suffered a head injury.

Police and paramedics are understood to have carried out first aid but the 46-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. After a mandatory referral from the force we declared an independent investigation and sent investigators to the police post incident procedure to begin gathering evidence.

Anyone with information should contact the IOPC at [email protected] or phone 0800 096 9076.

IOPC Regional Director for London, Sal Naseem, said: “I would like to extend our condolences to the family of the man who died. We have met with them to explain our role and will keep them regularly informed as our inquiries progress.

“We believe that a number of bystanders may have captured this incident on their mobile phones and that there were also a number of people in flats overlooking the scene who may have witnessed it. It is vitally important that we establish the full circumstances and therefore I would appeal to anyone who has footage or saw what happened to contact us as soon as possible.”