'Faulty door took the life of my baby’s Dad' - Heartbreak as newborn son greets the world
Tears of despair and joy – mother Sarah Jayne cannot hide her emotion after giving birth to a baby whose father died less than two months before.
Miss Collins’ lost her partner Chris Brookes after he fell to his death while attempting to exit Wolverhampton’s bus station.
Today she said she was ‘disgusted’ on hearing at his inquest how a ‘faulty’ fire escape probably led to the 22-year-old climbing the gate.
Mr Brookes slipped and fell onto a bus lane of the Wolverhampton ring road.
It came six months after another incident when man tried climbing the gate.
Miss Collins, whose son Chris Junior was named after his father, said: “If the fire escape door was working my child’s Dad would have still be here today – it’s disgusting.”
She added: “The exit was not locked and could been opened if you had the knack of pushing it hard enough, but Chris did not know that.
“Considering the same thing happened before, this should have sorted and the exit easy to open.
“As it was, Chris tried to climb the gate and fell.”
Black Country Coroner Zafar Siddique recorded a conclusion of accidental death following the inquest on Monday.
He said he will also be writing a Preventing Future Deaths report.
The inquest heard how Mr Brookes, of Tame Road, Oldbury, had been out in Wolverhampton for his brother’s birthday when the incident happened.
He had been refused entry to a nightclub and was on his own when he walked out a fire exit at the city’s bus station.
When faced with the ‘faulty’ fire exit door he climbed it, attempting to get to the bridge over the ring road, but fell.
He suffered multiple injuries and was taken to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where was pronounced dead.
Miss Collins, who lives with her mother in Oldbury, said: “Its been so hard, very hard dealing with the grief of it all, and the pregnancy.
“It feels like he should be here.”
Since his death, a push bar has been placed on the fire exit door to ensure it works, while the fire exit leading out the station is currently locked.
Mr Brookes was laid to rest at Gornal Crematorium.
A bench has been installed at the crematorium, as well as on Wrens Nest, near to Dudley Caves. His funeral was on November 29 – a month before the birth of Chris Junior Reggie Brookes, born on December 21.
