18.06.2004

Man Threatens to Jump from Crane

A man occupied the drivers cab of a tower crane and threatened to jump in an incident on Thursday night.

The man climbed up the crane at the junction of Victoria Street and Thirleby Road in central London at 7.50pm on Thursday June 17th He then warned that he may commit suicide, his actions are thought to be totally unrelated to demonstrations being held by the pressure group Fathers 4 Justice today, who have used the crane demonstration technique a few times over the past 12 months.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We have put cordons around the area and obviously we are trying to persuade him to come down.” The man was sitting in the cab of the crane while police tried to contact him by mobile phone. The crane is part of major construction work taking place to build a new shopping and office complex.

In a recent court case David Chick, who dressed up as Spiderman and occupied a tower crane near Tower bridge last November, as part of a campaign for Fathers 4 Justice, was acquitted. The judge ruled that the disruption caused around Tower bridge, including its closure, was not caused by Chick andwas out of proportion to the risk. It was claimed that it was a police attempt to apply additional pressure on Chick in a bid to force him down and end the nmassive disruption.