Final King’s Cross fire victim named

HOMELESS Scot has been identified as the final victim of the fire at King’s Cross Station that killed 31 people six years ago.

Since 1987, one of the 31 people who died has remained anonymous - known simply as "115" the number given to the body by the mortuary.

But forensic experts from the British Transport police have now concluded he was 72-year-old Alexander Fallon.

Mr Fallon's life disintegrated after the death of his wife from ovarian cancer in 1974.

He sold his house in Falkirk and moved to London in the early 1980s.

He kept in contact with two daughters in Scotland and two in the US while living rough but has not been heard of or claimed social security since the day of the fire.

A reconstruction of the head of "115" by forensic experts bore a strong resemblance to Mr Fallon.

He had also undergone brain surgery, requiring the placing of a clip on his skull, as had '115', and both were about 5ft 2ins tall.

The fire started at about 7.30pm on November 18, 1987, in dry rubbish under a wooden escalator after a passenger is believed to have thrown away a cigarette or match.

King's Cross, London's busiest station, was full of commuters at the tail end of the rush hour.

Terrified passengers had to contend with a fireball that engulfed the ticket hall which then filled with smoke.

The black smoke could be seen coming out of the station's street-level entrances from where screaming passengers emerged.

The task of identifying the final victim has been a long and detailed process. There were few clues for the team to go on. They had the badly-burnt remains of a man, who was 5ft 2in tall, and a smoker.

Officers began a wide-ranging search to locate relatives or friends.

They followed up hundreds of possible identities after receiving inquiries from around the world.

In recent years, they were still receiving inquiries from families but to no avail.

Mr Fallon's eldest daughter, Mary Leishman, who lives in Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire, said it was only in 1997 that the family began to consider whether he was the unknown victim.

Last July Mrs Leishman said she was "certain" the victim was her father.