Cries of 'help me' before man plunged to death from high-rise

Screams for help were repeatedly heard before a man plunged to his death from a 12th floor flat in Aberdeen, an inquiry has heard.

Jamie Forbes, 37, was held against his will at a flat in Elphinstone Court for two days in January 2024 before falling from a window.

When police carried out door-to-door inquiries they were not able to trace where pleas had come from.

Witnesses told the first day of a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) in Aberdeen they called 999 after hearing shouts including "somebody help me".

Lee Smith, 37, was jailed for eight years in December 2024 after admitting culpable homicide.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lady Hood heard the abuse inflicted on Forbes was so bad that he had no other option but to jump from the window.

Police later discovered the lock of the flat's door had been tampered with, meaning the window was the only route of escape.

Officers had found Smith washing up in the kitchen, and bloodstains throughout the flat.

He had repeatedly hit his victim with a hammer, and punched and kicked him during the attack.

The first FAI witness, Gail Thomson, 27, told Gavin Burton, for the Crown, that she called 999 on the morning of 15 January 2024.

Her 999 call was played to the courtroom.

She told the call handler she could hear repeated screams for help, coming from six floors down from the top of the 18-floor high rise.

"I do not know what was going on but I cannot walk by and not say anything," she said in the call.

The call handler then said someone else had called in to say a man was shouting for help.

Witness Lindsay Barrett, 47, told the FAI she also called 999 after hearing a man's voice shouting for help "numerous" times.

She described the shouts as "distressed" and "desperate".

Another witness, Victoria Esan, 40, described hearing screams of "call the police".

She said he sounded "really stressed, like he was in danger".

She said the man shouted he was in flat number 47, and she later gave that information to police officers. She said they had someone telling them another flat number.

As part of agreed evidence at the start of the FAI, it was stated the incident involved 47 Elphinstone Court.

The inquiry was told the victim was later seen falling from a window to his death in the afternoon of the day the 999 calls were earlier made.

A witness covered his body with a duvet that had also fallen.

A post mortem examination revealed multiple internal injuries as a result of the fall from height.

There were also sharp force injuries to his hands which were described as "classic defence-type injuries".

Some relatives of the victim were given time to leave the courtroom before the injuries were detailed.

The FAI is being held in the civil annexe of Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

It is due to last about four days, followed by later submissions, before Sheriff Principal Andrew Miller then considers his determination.