Wigan gran Clarice Berry was buried alive by a 'timebomb' wall that landlord ignored for EIGHT YEARS, coroner rules

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Coroner Bronia Hartley ruled that Clarice Berry, 77, died a preventable death after a 3,800kg gable wall collapsed on her in the carport of her rented Shevington home in July 2021. Her husband had first flagged the bowing wall to the managing agent nearly eight years before it killed her. Following an inquest in July that reached the same conclusion, Hartley issued a report on the prevention of future deaths on Thursday.

A property manager visited in August 2013 and wrote 'gable wall big bulge in wall — needs urgent repointing/rebuild', yet no repairs were ever carried out.

The warning 'fell by the wayside' when the managing agents changed hands, and a second inspection in 2016 again identified the gable as requiring repointing — still nothing was done.

A gas engineer noticed the bulge just months before Berry's death while fitting a new boiler, but landlord S&G Properties and management firm KMPM still took no action.