Inquest opens into catapult death of Wadham student
An inquest began last Monday into the death of a student killed during a stunt involving a human catapult, after a trial found the two men who designed and operated the catapult not guilty of manslaughter. Wadham student Kostadin Yankov died in November 2002 when he missed the net that should have caught him after his 100ft fl ight. The incident happened at Middlemoor Water Park in Somerset, which Yankov was visiting as a member of the Oxford Stunt Factory.
The inquest was told how the biochemistry undergraduate slipped in and out of consciousness following his fall, and was airlifted to the Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, where he was pronounced dead. The designers of the catapult, Richard Wicks, 34, of Burnhamon- Sea, Somerset and David Aitkenhead, 46, of Fiddington, near Bridgwater, were originally accused of killing Yankov through gross negligence.
However, they were acquitted of manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court last year, leading to the opening of an inquest into Yankov’s death. A tree now stands in Wadham’s JCR quad in memory of ‘Dino’, as Yankov was known. John Jenkins, former Wadham Student Union President, says the incident had a huge impact on the college. “He was a great guy, there were lots of people who got on with him, and it hit the whole college hard.
It will be good to fi nally get to the bottom of what actually happened, and be able to draw a line under it all.” The Oxford Stunt Factory was founded as the alternative sports club for Oxford University and Oxford Brookes, but has since become involved in the provision of stunts for the fi lm and television industry. The group has been banned from attending the university’s Freshers’ Fair since the incident, but every year they stand at the exit to promote their activities.
This year the fair organisers were forced to called the police. David Boston, a member of the Stunt Factory, echoed Vance’s sentiments. “This is a very sad incident in all our lives that has dragged on, and I am delighted that it looks as if this tragic chapter is drawing to a close.
“I hope that the ban on our attendance at the Freshers’ Fair will come to an end once the inquest is over - there has never been any culpability attached to the Stunt Factory, and I can’t imagine there will be as a result of the inquest.” The inquest opened at Shire Hall in Taunton at the start of the week, and is due to last until Friday.
3rd Nov 2005