The 44-year-old woman was blown down by gale force winds during Storm Jorge and suffered fatal head injuries after being ignored by passers-by who mistook her for intoxication, according to the inquest
- Linda McKenna, 44, fell repeatedly while fighting Storm Jorge
- She was seen on CCTV in the early hours of March 1 and by over a dozen people
- But they assumed they were drunk and didn’t call 99 for help before she fell
A woman who was killed in a fall after being blown over by gale force winds was ignored by over a dozen people who watched her struggle.
Linda McKenna, 44, fell repeatedly while battling Storm Jorge in the early hours of March 1.
She was picked up by city center CCTV, but an employee assumed she was intoxicated and told the inquest they didn’t want to “wast resources” by calling 999.
Miss McKenna left her mother Sue’s home at 1.30am and was seen walking ‘on purpose’ through Blackpool town center in Lancs.
She disappeared behind some trash cans before reappearing drunk 12 minutes later.
Miss McKenna then staggered through the streets where she suffered several falls, partly due to Storm Jorge, which was raging at the time, the inquest was told.
Eventually three people stopped to help her and she was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital unconscious at around 4am but died of her injuries the next day.
Linda McKenna, pictured with a friend, fought but was unsupported by bystanders
An autopsy by Dr. Mark Sissons said the cause of death was a brain hemorrhage from blunt force trauma.
The investigation revealed that there was evidence of drugs in her system.
Coroner Alan Wilson delivered a conclusion on the accidental death, saying: “It was a noticeably windy night.
“The footage shows Linda leaving on purpose; then she walks behind some garbage cans.
Flooding at Ely Bridge in Cardiff after Storm Jorge hit Wales in a storm of rain
“Then she appears and runs into a wall.
“There’s a clear difference between before she went behind the bins and after.
“She took a substance that got her high pretty quickly.”
Referring to the person who saw her monitoring security cameras in the area, he added, “If you look at the footage, there’s a point after Linda gets in view of the cameras where he goes on she zooms, and that’s within minutes that he notices Linda.
Garden sheds float in flood water as Storm Jorge floods hit Snaith homes and businesses
“On the one hand, it is unclear whether she would have sustained a significant head injury from these examples of CCTV footage.
“On the other hand, she is on the ground for a long time. It seems to me that anyone watching them would have good reason to call an ambulance or the police. She seems vulnerable.
“However, it doesn’t seem to me that even an earlier 911 call for Linda would have had a different result.”
He said he would write to the company that employed the man, urging bosses to remind employees to call 999 if they see anyone in a vulnerable condition.
