Fan died trying to fix St Albans football club's roof

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-44390212

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A man who was killed in a fall from the roof of a football club's terrace was repairing a leak, an inquest heard.

Clive Churchhouse, 71, was a "passionate supporter" of St Albans City Football Club and volunteered there for many years doing "odd jobs".

On 18 July he fell through the roof of the terrace and was airlifted to hospital but died from his injuries.

Senior coroner for Hertfordshire Geoffrey Sullivan recorded his death as an accident.

Mr Churchhouse's son, Keith, told Hatfield Coroner's Court the family "wouldn't want to see the club prosecuted".

"The football club was his life. It was his other family," he said.

The inquest heard Mr Churchhouse had taken his own ladder to repair the leaking roof.

The club had not asked him to carry out the work and was not aware he was planning to repair the roof, co-owner Lawrence Levy said.

Fellow volunteer at the club, John Jones, said it was common for volunteers to just "get things done" and not speak to the owners beforehand.

Mr Jones said he was on the ground passing Mr Churchhouse wooden planks but when his fellow volunteer got halfway up the ladder, he found a branch in his way.

"I went to get secateurs to cut it and heard a crash."

Mr Jones told the court he found Mr Churchhouse lying at the bottom of the terrace stairs.

"There was a hole in the roof which wasn't there before," he said.

'Abundance of enthusiasm'

My Churchhouse died of multiple traumatic injuries.

Following the accident, the club received a visit from the Health and Safety Executive and was asked to put up a warning sign about the fragile roof.

Keith Churchhouse said the lack of signage was not to blame for his father's death.

"Even if there was a sign up, he would've done it anyway," he said.

Mr Sullivan concluded Mr Churchhouse's death was due to "an abundance of enthusiasm, rather than a lack of safety".