Builder's crane dropped two tonnes of bricks on young mother's head as she walked home from school run, Old Bailey hears

From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026 · last updated 6 October 2026.

Michaela Boor, 29, was killed on the morning after her birthday when a pallet of bricks plummeted from a tower crane and struck her as she made her way down Burdett Road in Bow, east London, on March 27, 2018. Her friend Chelsea Mustafa survived by fleeing into the road, but Michaela never left the pavement and died two days later from catastrophic brain injuries at the Royal London Hospital.

Construction firm Higgins Homes and four workers — Alexander McInnes, Dawood Maan, Stephen Coulson and Thomas Anstis — face corporate manslaughter charges at the Old Bailey.

The crane operator, McInnes, allegedly lost sight of the load entirely, turning it into a 'blind lift' before the pallet snagged scaffolding and tipped.

Michaela had just dropped her son at school and was heading to Lidl and Tesco to buy birthday supplies when the bricks fell.