'Teenager tried to cut safety ropes'

31 July 2007

A WORKMAN fixing anti-pigeon spikes to a tower block in Silvertown watched in horror as a teenager tried to cut his ropes, a court heard.

Christopher Murray was 30ft from the ground when the 17-year-old leaned out of his window and started hacking at his lines. He felt a pulling sensation and looked up to see the boy sawing with a kitchen knife, jurors heard.

"I was on the third or fourth floor from the ground and I felt a pulling on the back-up line," Mr Murray told Snaresbrook Crown Court. "It didn't overly worry me initially because sometimes you get kids pulling on the line out of the window.

"But then I felt a vibration or tremble and looked up and saw a hand sawing at the rope."

Mr Murray and a colleague, employees for Can London Ltd, had been installing the spikes on April 5.

When he saw the boy cutting the rope he scrambled to get to his partner and attached himself to his safety line.

He told jurors: "It all took about five seconds. If the line was cut while it was

loaded then it would probably snap.

"We don't have training on how to fall. If you fall you should fall into your safety line. In theory nothing should ever go wrong. We always use two ropes - one is the working line, the other is the safety line."

The court heard both men quickly descended to the ground and called police.

Christopher Kerr, prosecuting, said both ropes had been cut about halfway through.

"The defendant admitted to police he did cut the ropes. He said he had had a look out the window and no one was there. He said he thought the ropes were attached to a platform to hoist equipment and that he just wasn't thinking."

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies damaging property with intent to endanger life and one charge of damaging property and being reckless as to whether the life of another would thereby be endangered. The trial continues.