Questions over ladder fall tragedy


AN element of mystery surrounds the rea- son for an 82-year-old man falling to his death while cutting back shrubs outside his home in Loose. Retired power engineer Leslie James cracked the back of his head after falling from his ladder in Lancet Lane on a Sep- tember morning last year. He incurred seri- ous brain injuries and died in Maidstone


FLOWER power helped stu- dents at Invicta Grammar School, Maidstone, raise more than £450 during a special charity extravaganza. Pupils and staff wore blos-


soms in their hair and dressed in flowery outfits for the day. Donations were paid for not wearing the usual school uni- form.


Students also raised money


from a lunchtime concert. Per- formers included all of 8T who sang “Don’t Stop Believing.” Other items included pupils playing the piano, alto sax and clarinet. The floral day raised £451.04


for the Heart of Kent Hospice, which included £143.04 from the sale of cakes baked by 8N pupils. A group of visiting Ger- man students also dressed up and made donations. The school’s charity efforts continued with a Valentine Ball for 100 Yr 5 girls from primary


schools in the area. This was or- ganisedbyagroupofYr11Cer- tificate in Management students, who raised £302.20 for the British Heart Founda- tion. The girls enjoyed dancing and


refreshments including home- made cupcakes. School admin- istrator Karen Brewster said: “One mother had made 100 cupcakes decorated in pink icing and hearts. I think it may become an annual event.”


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Hospital later that afternoon, an inquest heard.


Though Mr James had been standing on


an 8ft-high ladder, his family believed he would only have been stood on the second or third step up because of the low height of the shrubs. Pathologist David Rouse explained that the injuries could have been incurred re-


gardless of the height he fell from, and pin- pointed a possible underlying cause of the fall. He said: “The post mortem said he had


School enjoys blooming good day for charity


heart disease that was undiagnosed. He may not have had any real symptoms – he may have had a temporary black-out some time ago that was forgotten about. “Normally you would expect someone, if they were falling backwards, to put their hands out and reduce the force, but he appeared not to, which suggests there may have been a fainting episode caused by heart disease.” Mid-Kent coroner Roger


Sykes delivered a verdict of ac- cidental death, but could not say with certainty the cause of the fall.


Beacon Centre


window-smasher PAULWinter (51), of Northum- berland Road, Shepway, caused £100 of damage to a window at The Beacon Centre, Shepway. He also admitted possessing


an offensive weapon – a base- ball bat – on the day of the in- cident in November last year. Winter was given a 12-month community order and ordered to pay £100 compensation and £50 costs.


Conversion plan A PLAN has been submitted to convert a house into four flats at 48 Whitmore Street, Maidstone.


Town 3


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