A council should have known that a woman who died when she was engulfed by a landslide while watching television in her flat was in mortal danger, an inquest jury has concluded.
The jury said Cornwall council ought to have known that erosion to high ground behind Susan Norman’s home posed a “real and immediate risk of death”.
Norman, 68, was killed instantly when her ground-floor flat was destroyed by tonnes of mud and rubble that fell on to her rented property in Looe during torrential rain.
A jury of five men and six women heard more than two weeks of evidence from more than 30 witnesses – including neighbours who described how they tried to get the council to take action.
They returned a narrative conclusion, saying: “Susan Norman died as a result of being buried by a landslide. Cornwall council ought to have known at the time of the real and immediate risk of death to Susan Norman.”
Cornwall coroner’s court had been told there was a series of landslips in the neighbourhood. The jury said: “Cornwall council did not listen to regular, consistent and frustrated complaints by the residents. Cornwall council did not respond to an independent report highlighting risk.”
Jurors had heard evidence from one expert who said the landslip was likely to have been triggered by water from a road spilling over the top of the retaining wall behind the block of flats, which was called Veronica.
The panel added: “The landslide was caused, or more than normally contributed to, by a failure of Cornwall council to prevent the surface water moving from St Martin’s Road on to the rear of Veronica.”
Norman had three children, Outside the court Helen Hazeltine, her daughter, said: “They [the council] had a lack of care towards my mum. They just dismissed the residents’ views constantly over 15 years.
“My mother was the one who paid the ultimate price. It could have been worse and it could have been more people. She was taken away from us and she didn’t have to be. She still should have been here with us for Christmas, birthdays and everything.”
Hazeltine claimed that if Cornwall council had implemented a £45,000 drainage scheme to route excess water through nearby woods the tragedy would not have happened.
Following the inquest, the council apologised to Norman’s relatives and friends and accepted there were “a number of matters which require the attention of the council and its staff”.
During the inquest, Norman’s landlady, Christina Miller, said her tenant had raised concerns about a bulge in a retaining wall at the back of the house, prompting her to call in a structural engineer who warned about the risk of “catastrophic collapse”.
Miller, who had concerns about water running off St Martin’s Road, called in the council and was told it was “a private matter and not one for Cornwall council to fund”.
Philip Curtis, an engineering geologist, said a very small amount of the water coming off the road would be enough to saturate the earth behind the wall and cause it to fail.
Neighbours described their concerns before the accident in the early hours of 22 March 2013.
Rowan Beckingham said: “At the beginning of March, I remember Christina Miller saying there was a problem with the cliff at the rear of our property. I do remember asking why the council was not fixing it and she replied that they would not do it fast enough and so she would get someone in.”
Tim Topham, who lived two doors from Norman, told the inquest that several landslips had happened in the area since 2006 and he had alerted Cornwall council.
Norman’s daughter Rachael Boden had put a photo of her mother on a chair at the inquest, explaining she wanted to put a face to the person who lost her life. Norman had just returned from holiday when the accident happened.
