Property bosses admit blame after ‘popular, beautiful and ambitious’ university worker, 29, was killed by falling panel outside Starbucks during Storm Doris

• Tahnie Martin, 29, was walking past a Starbucks when she was hit by the panel 
• The university worker, from Stafford originally, died after she was struck in 2017 
• Company that manages the building have admitted breaching health and safety 
• Tahnie’s heartbroken parents Rosie and Jim say they are ‘shattered’ by her death 

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A building management company has admitted to breaching health and safety laws after a ‘popular, beautiful and ambitious’ woman was killed by a wooden panel that fell from a shopping centre during Storm Doris.  

University worker Tahnie Martin, 29, was walking past a Starbucks when she was hit and killed by a water tank cover that fell from the roof of the Mander Centre in Wolverhampton during the storm on February 23, 2017.   

After today’s hearing, where the building’s managers admitted to breaching health and safety laws, Tahnie’s parents Rosie and Jim said they had been ‘shattered’ by the loss of their daughter.

An inquest had previously heard that the panel that killed the university worker, from a mothballed plant room, was rotten with corroded fixings and may not have been maintained for almost 20 years. 

‘Popular, beautiful and ambitious’ university worker Tahnie Martin, 29, was walking past a Starbucks when Storm Doris blew a panel off a roof, which then struck her

At a hearing today, Cushman and Wakefield Debenham Tie Leung Limited, the company responsible for managing the building, accepted that it had committed a health and safety offence, which eventually led to the 29-year-old’s death.

A further hearing will now take place at Wolverhampton Crown Court on May 8 before a sentence is passed.

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Speaking after the hearing, Richard Phillips, senior solicitor for City of Wolverhampton Council, said: ‘She was a popular, beautiful and ambitious young woman who had a very bright future cruelly stolen from her in the most shocking of circumstances owing to the failings of the defendant, Cushman and Wakefield Debenham Tie Leung Limited.

‘City of Wolverhampton Council’s environmental health team carried out a comprehensive investigation, into the circumstances around Tahnie’s death and their diligence has led to this successful criminal prosecution for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Tahnie had a ‘very bright future’, according to her parents who added that they had been ‘shattered’ by her death

‘We welcome the guilty plea of the defendant, made at the earliest opportunity, which means the family will not have to go through the stress of a trial.’

He stressed that Tahnie’s death was ‘preventable’ and ‘simply should not have happened’.

Mr Phillips said: ‘Had the defendant fulfilled its legal duty to properly maintain the building structures above our main high street, she would still be with her family today.

‘It is our hope that this case will highlight to all those responsible for the maintenance of buildings of the need to thoroughly understand what they are responsible for and that buildings are suitably maintained to ensure such a devastating incident never occurs again.’  

Cushman and Wakefield Debenham Tie Leung Limited has now admitted to a health and safety offence that led to the 29-year-old’s death

Ms Martin, from Stafford, was pronounced dead after suffering head injuries. 

She was engaged to be married and, after her death, her fiance Shaun Lee paid tribute to her. 

Quoting ‘The Beautiful and the Damned’, he said: ‘It is difficult to find the words.

‘She had so much to look forward to. Our lives will never be the same again.

‘She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved.

She had originally wanted to become a war correspondent and studied American studies and journalism at Lincoln University (left) before deciding she wanted to move into marketing

Ms Martin, from Stafford originally, was pronounced dead after suffering head injuries when the panel hit her

‘She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul.’

Tahnie and Shaun first met when they were both working at adhesives firm Bostik. They met on his first day when she was trying to fix a computer. They started dating shortly afterwards and became engaged in January 2017.

In her last Valentine’s Day card to him, Tahnie had written how she was so excited to spend the rest of her life with him and that 2017 was going to be ‘their year’.

Shaun said she had originally wanted to become a war correspondent and studied American studies and journalism at Lincoln University before deciding she wanted to move into marketing.

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