Before the youngster fell, Leeds Council raised concerns about window safety. An investigation

 Before the youngster fell, Leeds Council raised concerns about window safety. An investigation

An inquiry has shown that a woman sent a council warning about dangerous windows in her seventh-floor apartment before her one-year-old son tragically plunged to his death.

Exodus Iob fell from a high-rise building in Savile Green, Leeds, in July 2022 after climbing onto a bed under a window.

Birikati Berihue, his mother, said that while the window had limitations, it was still readily operable.

He had often protested to Leeds City Council and requested that the windows be made safer, it was revealed during the trial.

Reem Semere, the 19-year-old daughter of Ms. Berryhue, was told at the inquest that on July 2, she woke up, left her bedroom, and shut the door. She said that since it was a warm night, the window was slightly open and lacked a lock.

After a few minutes, she said, she looked about the apartment but couldn't see Exodus. So, she asked her mother where he was.

They then discovered that Reem's bedroom window was "wider than ever" when they entered.

According to Miss Semre, her mother screamed when she spotted Exodus on the ground and peered out the window.

During the inquiry, it was revealed that Ms. Berryhue had complained to the council about the windows ever since she and her three children moved into the apartment in 2010, but she felt as if they were not paying attention to her worries.

He said that when a council worker went to the apartment in November 2020, he wanted to have a secondary restrictor put, but was informed that this could not be done since it had not been ordered.

She claimed to have called the authorities to request a secondary restrictor for her windows since a neighbor in the apartment next door had one installed.

"This was the most consistent thing my mother had complained about for years," Miss Cemre said during the hearing.

"They insisted that the restrictions were adequate."

Zaheer Akhtar, a housing officer for the council, said during the investigation that he could not remember Ms. Berryview requesting more window restrictors. He stated he would have dealt with it if she had done that.

Exodus was brought to Leeds General Infirmary with severe fractures and head injuries, where he was later declared dead, according to testimony presented at the trial.

Iason Harrison, the family's attorney, said that after learning of the death of six-year-old Liam Shackleton—who had fallen from the window of a nearby tower block in Lincoln Green—Ms. Berryhue became worried that one of her kids may also fall from a window. In 2011, I visited.

Ison Harrison said before to the inquest that the family of Exodus was worried about children having easy access to the windows and safety in tiny bedrooms when the bed is beneath the window, as well as the fact that there were several tower blocks in the neighborhood with comparable windows. As. Easy accessibility It is easy to separate them.

Following Exodus's passing, Leeds City Council deputy head of property management Robert Gore said that "there was no fault with that window system" during their assessment.

Mr. Gore informed the inquiry that the council did not normally install cable locks as Ms. Berryhue had asked; rather, households were given the locks as a part of a "one-off campaign" when Liam Shackleton passed away.