Met investigating fatal balcony fall, coroner told

The Metropolitan Police has opened a corporate manslaughter investigation after a man died following a fall from the balcony of his flat in central London.

Joshua Robbins, 23, leant on the balcony railings of his home in Holland and Thurston Dwellings, Holborn, when it gave way on 26 January. He had been checking on a pizza delivery for him and his father Will Robbins.

The pre-inquest review at St Pancras Coroner's Court heard that Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association (ISHA) was assisting the police with its requests for material.

Joshua's mother, Fiona Garrett, 46, previously said she was seeking answers about her son's death, as his father was "extremely traumatised" after seeing the fall.

A forensic engineer attended the scene and CCTV footage was gathered following the fatal fall.

Det Insp Mark Paterson said: "It's an ongoing investigation. A lot of the material is held by ISHA, who are fully compliant with requests that are being made at this stage."

He said the court could expect an update by January. Senior coroner Mary Hassell scheduled a further pre-inquest review for 6 January 2027.

Previously, Garrett said she had emailed her son's MP, former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, requesting a meeting as part of her campaign for answers.

She said she was pleased his office "came back straight away" and began asking for further information.

She said: "I thought, 'Oh well, if I get a reply it would just be your bog-standard, written-by-someone-else response and he just won't even know that it's gone out', but the fact that he wrote it, so he actually signed it himself at the bottom and wrote a little bit extra, it did seem really genuine.

"When I showed Will, he was just like, 'Oh my God, the prime minister knows who our son was'."

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said inquiries remain ongoing and officers continue to liaise with the Crown Prosecution Service and are keeping the family updated.

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