Police were called to Offerton Road in Clapham by shocked residents after the body landed just feet from a sleeping sunbather. One neighbour described hearing a “whomp” as the body hit the ground and pictures from the scene show the crater caused by the impact. Police believe the body of the man fell from the landing gear of a Kenya Airways flight as it prepared to land.

I heard a ‘whomp’ – I went upstairs to look out of a window

Neighbour

According to data from flightradar24.com, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner 3,500 feet above the ground as it flew over the street.

The victim fell into the garden of a £2.3 million property and landed about three feet from a tenant who had been enjoying the sunshine.

The neighbour said: “I heard a ‘whomp’ – I went upstairs to look out of a window.

“At first I though it was a tramp asleep in the garden. He had all of his clothes on and everything. I had a closer look and saw there was blood all over the walls of the garden.”

He continued: “His head was not in a good way. I realised immediately that he had fallen. So I went outside and it was just then the neighbour came out and he was very shaken.

“He had been sunbathing and he landed one metre away from him. The police were here very quickly.”

The neighbour, who asked not to be named, said a plane spotter following the flight on a plane tracking app from Clapham Common, had seen the body fall.

The plane spotter had arrived almost at the same time as the police and told them the body had fallen from a Kenyan Airways flight.

The neighbour said: “The police had four cars. They were here for about five hours to start the clean-up operation.”

He said the body was removed at about 8.30pm and that the clean-up team had returned on Monday morning to continue the job.

He added the neighbour that had been sunbathing had returned briefly yesterday evening before leaving again.

He said: “I spoke to Heathrow Airport this morning to ask if they were aware of this.

“If it had been two seconds later, he would have landed on the common where there were hundreds of people – my kids were in the garden 15 minutes before.”

Describing the victim, he said: “One of the reasons his body was so intact was because his body was an ice block.”

Scotland Yard said a bag, water and some food were discovered in the landing gear compartment of the plane when it arrived at the airport.

A spokesman said the death is not being treated as suspicious and a post-mortem will be carried out in due course.

Inquiries are being conducted with the Met’s southern central command unit and its aviation policing command.

The Met said it would be liaising with the airline and international authorities.

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