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Cliff Buddle

A HOUSE-PROUD wife's determination to clean the windows on the outside of her 34th floor flat ended in tragedy when she fell to her death, the Coroner's Court heard yesterday.

  Wendy Chan Mong-ton, 34, lost her grip on the window frame and toppled over a parapet. She died of multiple injuries.

  Coroner Ian Carlson said: 'I would really urge members of the public not to attempt to get outside their flats in order to do cleaning work. There are dozens of highly-skilled window cleaning companies in Hong Kong that do this sort of work.'   Those workers were used to working at height.

  'They bring along proper equipment and harnesses which attach them to the buildings therefore minimising the risk of this sort of thing happening,' he said.

   Mr Carlson returned a verdict of accidental death.

   Chan and her husband Chan Kim-kwong, 35, a security guard, were cleaning their flat in Tuen Mun when the tragedy occurred on February 1 this year.

   Mr Chan said his wife placed some stools on the parapet and stood on them so that she could wipe dust away from the windows.

   The court heard the parapet, intended for pot plants, had a wall that was only 7.2 centimetres high.

   Mr Chan said his wife asked him to fetch her some white paint so the outer wall could be decorated.

   He turned away and suddenly felt a movement outside.

   'I looked out and I felt that something extraordinary had happened,' Mr Chan told the court.

   He said he glimpsed his wife's long hair as she fell.

   Mr Chan revealed he had previously advised his wife not to clean the outside windows and had discussed the dangers with her.

   A policeman who went to the scene after the accident said the flat was tidy and there were no signs of a struggle. There had been no reports of the woman calling for help, and no suspicious circumstances, he added.

   Mr Carlson said: 'The deceased was a very house-proud and competent wife and housekeeper. This lady and her husband had decided to give their flat a thorough cleaning.'    The stools on which she stood were higher than the parapet wall and it was clear she had lost her grip.



House-proud wife plunged to death cleaning windows