Man died after 500kg of fencing fell on him

Customers at a DIY store desperately tried to resuscitate a man who was killed when a 500kg bundle of fencing fell on him, an inquest heard yesterday.

Michael O’Rourke, aged 59, a father of two from St Laurence’s Park in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, was standing directly under the fencing bundle in the garden centre at B&Q in Belgard Retail Park, Tallaght, when it fell 4m and struck him on Mar 29, 2009.

It later transpired the bundle had been sitting in an unstable position for two days but safety checks failed to detect the problem.