Roger Federer Will Miss His First Grand Slam In 17 Years
PLAYERAPPEAREDR64R32R16QFSFFW The French Open will begin on Sunday without Roger Federer, the first time he will miss the tournament since 1998. It’s also the first time the 17-time major champion will miss any Grand Slam since the 1999 U.S. Open. Federer’s withdrawal breaks his record-setting streak of 65 straight Grand Slam appearances, a stretch that encompasses fully one-third of the history of Open-era men’s tennis.When Federer last missed a Slam, two Americans, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, were ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the world. Federer had just turned 18, was mired in a slump, and was ranked so low that he needed to try to qualify for the tournament. He lost in the second round of qualifying. This time, Federer is ranked No. 3 in the world but has struggled all year with injuries, entering just four events. Federer said in a statement that he withdrew to “ensure I could play the remainder of the season and help to extend the rest of my career. I remain as motivated and excited as ever.”No. 1 Novak Djokovic has never missed a major since he played his first in 2005. The French Open will be his 46th in a row. His consistency rivals Federer’s and exceeds that of the other three men — Björn Borg, John McEnroe and Rafael Nadal — who achieved the five highest Elo scores of the Open era, our measure of the players who peaked at the highest levels of all time. Federer655140363623103 McEnroe74333332 All-time greats’ longest Slam streaks, by round Source: tennisabstract.com Nadal1313131311553 Borg77653332 Djokovic46403027271453 Federer also leads among his fellow greats in consecutive appearances at just about every stage of Grand Slams. Djokovic, though, is riding streaks of five consecutive finals, eight semis and 27 quarterfinals. Federer’s withdrawal will make it easier for Djokovic to maintain his streaks — not so much because a weakened Federer isn’t in the draw, but because it bumps Nadal up to fourth in the seedings, preventing the possibility that Djokovic would have to face his top clay-court rival before the semifinals. Injuries have kept Nadal from stringing together long streaks at Slams, while Borg and McEnroe rarely bothered to make the trip to Melbourne for the Australian Open. CORRECTION (May 19, 3:50 p.m.): The headline on a previous version of this article gave an incorrect time period since Federer’s last missed Grand Slam. It was 17 years, not 18 years.
Social workers said there were concerns that the boy, now aged about eight months, might ingest “harmful alternative medication” either directly or via his mother’s breast milk.Detail of the case has emerged in a ruling published by the judge following a family court hearing in Portsmouth, Hampshire.Judge Black said the family involved could not be identified – but she said Southampton city council had responsibility for the boy and had asked her to make decisions about the boy’s long-term future.Judge Black said the little boy had been temporarily taken from his parents when he was a few days old after social workers and police became concerned about his safety.She said social workers had a number of worries – including concerns that the boy had not been given appropriate medical attention.Judge Black said the boy’s parents had not attended family court hearings for a number of months – and had gone to Portugal. Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings. They had complained that their baby had been “kidnapped” by the council “in order to be adopted”.She said the couple had “abandoned” their son and no family members had put themselves forward as carers.”This child has been waiting in the care system almost from his birth … for decisions to be made about his future,” said Judge Black.”The parents have abandoned him in that they have not taken any steps which would enable the local authority or the court to consider recommencing contact let alone rehabilitation.”She added: “The court is satisfied that there is no one who is in a position to meet the needs of the child and there is no relative who has the ability or willingness to meet the child’s needs.”Judge Black said taking children from parents and placing them in the care of councils was a “serious matter”.The judge said such moves should be made only if “nothing else will do”. But she added: “There is no other option in this case.”Judge Black commended social services staff for the “tremendous efforts” they had made to “engage” the boy’s parents. The court is satisfied that there is no one who is in a position to meet the needs of the childJudge Helen Black A baby boy whose father advocates the use of “harmful alternative medication” should be taken into council care, a family court judge has decided.The man had sold Master Mineral Solution (MMS) as a treatment for cancer and autism, social services staff told Judge Helen Black.Staff said MMS was a sodium chlorite solution equivalent to industrial-strength bleach – and they said the Food Standards Agency had warned that it should not be taken.They said the man advocated the use of MMS and his website included “paraphernalia for the administration of such products to babies”.
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “It doesn’t matter how many ways these so-called comedians and SNP MPs try to wriggle out of this. ’Dyke’ is clearly a word which upsets many – that’s not news to anyone – so quite why that’s not being accepted by these people is a mystery.” Scottish Independence Convention supporters march through GlasgowCredit:PA The comedian Karen Dunbar has said she is “confused” by the row over one of her sketches in which Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, is described as “Ruth Dykey D”. The rap sketch was performed at an independence rally in Glasgow at the weekend by the female comedy collective Witsherface. The Scottish Conservatives condemned the language used and challenged the Nationalists to distance themselves from it. Annie Wells, a Tory Glasgow MP, who is also gay, said it was “shameful”, while Colin Macfarlane, of the gay rights charity Stonewall Scotland, said calling someone a dyke was homophobic. The event was attended by senior SNP figures, including Alex Salmond, while Joanna Cherry MP, the SNP home affairs spokesman, tweeted that the performance was “hilariously irreverent satire”. Written by Ms Dunbar, an actress and comedian, it was also performed in March during the Glasgow Comedy Festival. She said on Tuesday that as a gay woman who had experienced “horrendous homophobia” she felt confused that anyone could “interpret anything in the rap as being homophobic”. She added: “If my work has offended anyone it was not my intention. My sole purpose with this sketch was to create a comic rap about our current female political leaders. Any accusation that myself or Witsherface is homophobic, is utterly ridiculous.” A member of the group said: “Politicians, whatever their colour or creed are always fair game when it comes to comedy. ‘Twas ever thus, and should remain so in a healthy society.” The event market the re-launch of the Scottish Independence Convention on the second anniversary of the 2014 vote in which independence was rejected. Welcome to Scotland 2016, where a “comedy” rap mocking Ruth Davidsons sexuality is applauded and endorsed 1/2 pic.twitter.com/L1jow6UNeZ— NatBuster (@NatBuster) September 18, 2016 Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
Some of the 52,503 Roman coins by metal detector at Frome, Somerset, unveiled by the British Museum in 2010 under the treasures act 
Other treasures previously saved by the Treasure Act include 5,200 Anglo Saxon coins discovered in the village of Lenborough, Buckinghamshire An inquest will now determine whether the hoard can be officially classified as treasure. If it is less than 300 years old, it must prove to be made substantially of gold and deliberately concealed by its former owner.In 2011, a similar hoard of coins was discovered in a jam jar in a Hackney garden. The house was bombed in the Blitz, with family members being killed. Descendants of the owners were eventually traced to Israel, and granted ownership.Gold and silver hoards have also been reported from the English Civil War, where they had been buried for safety and never dug up again.Ian Richardson, treasure registrar at the British Museum, said he had also come across cases of gold ornaments found inside a Bronze Age axe head, and gold coins in an Iron Age antler. They are deliberately withholding details of the hoard, to encourage would-be claimants to fill in the gaps to prove their link is genuine.The British Museum has confirmed that a cache of gold items was deliberately hidden in an upright piano made by Broadwood & Sons of London in 1906, and sold to a music shop in Essex.Messrs. Beavan & Mothersole in Saffron Walden then sold it on to private owners, with no trace of who played it between 1906 and 1983.Then, it was sold as part of a house clearance after the death of its former owner, with no sign of the hoard coming to light.Its latest owners reported their find to a local Shropshire museum before Christmas, after realising its historical significance. 
The Silverdale Viking Hoard’, saved for the nation under the terms of the Treasure Act A thorough search of any average home may turn up a few coins hidden under sofa cushions, or jewellery tucked away for safe-keeping and forgotten.Few will reveal a hoard of gold treasure stashed in a piano.But the British Museum has launched a nationwide hunt to solve just such a mystery of hidden treasure, found planted inside an upright piano sometime in the last century.Experts are seeking information about the lost gold, which was found by new owners of the piano as they came to tune it in a stash described as “substantial”.Understood to be coins, they were concealed in the piano within the last 110 years but are believed to date from pre-1900. An inquest has now opened in Shropshire, with coroners urging members of the public to come forward with information about when the treasure was planted and why. The British Museum is now hunting for information Investigation eventually revealed the American coins had been buried by German Jewish refugees, who had later been sent to an internment camp and wanted to protect their treasures. 
Police are not involved in the investigation. While it is possible that the gold was stashed deliberately by criminals, who never retrieved it, experts believe it was more likely left by an absent-minded member of the public who died without telling relatives their secret.Peter Reavill, finds liaison officer for Shropshire, said he hoped to reunite the items with the family of the original owner, saying it would make “perfect sense” to send them home. A statement released by the British Museum said: “The finds are highly unusual in nature being substantially made of gold and appear to have been deliberately hidden within the last 110 years.” Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
Homes that take 12 days to sell are the most likely to achieve their maximum asking price, research suggests.Homeowners’ campaign body the HomeOwners Alliance looked at the relationship between the length of time that a property sits on the market for and the percentage of the asking price that it achieves.Using data from more than 5,000 estate agency branches across Britain, it found the eventual price paid for a property peaked at 12 days. Properties which are listed for a number of weeks see their values drop steadilyPaula Higgins, HomeOwners Alliance The HomeOwners Alliance used a tool on its website called estateagent4me, which helps people to find out about local estate agents, for the research.Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, said properties sold in fewer than 12 days might not achieve their full value if they were sold too quickly.”Perhaps another buyer may have come along with a better offer if the seller had waited for a few more days,” she said. “At the other end of the scale, properties which are listed for a number of weeks see their values drop steadily, particularly after they have been listed for over a month.” Estate agents selling homes at this point tended to achieve just over the full asking price, at 100.89 per cent typically.Both before and after the 12-day point, the average percentage of the asking price achieved was slightly lower.Based on an average UK property price of £218,000, a 12-day sale could mean the owner achieves additional £1,940 on top of their asking price, the report suggested.The research also suggested that after a property had been on the market for a couple of months, it would achieve around 96 per cent of the asking price on average, and after three months on the market this would fall to around 94 per cent. Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
The Telegraph is live on Snapchat Discover now!https://t.co/vnOkjut4UU pic.twitter.com/S832NNtFD9— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 5, 2017 Labour Party leader Jeremy CorbynCredit:Getty 
Our manifesto: Real political insight, free for 30 days.Rely on unrivalled insight and sharp analysis from our stellar team of Westminster insiders.Join the most trusted voice in politics. Follow Election 2017 with Telegraph Premium.Start your no obligation, 30 day free trial today. Boris Johnson has launched an attack on Jeremy Corbyn Credit:AFP Boris Johnson says he would be “deeply ashamed” if the “curiously vested” Jeremy Corbyn defeats Theresa May in the upcoming General Election.In an interview with the Telegraph on Snapchat, the Foreign Secretary attacked Corbyn, who he previously described as a ‘mutton-headed old mugwump’, as a shock poll shows the Tory lead has been cut from 17 to just one point. On the prospect of Corbyn leading Brexit negotiations, he added: “The thing that most alarms me is that we have a big decision to make about how to get Brexit right. He doesn’t seem to have a clue about how he wants to conduct the negotiations or indeed what he really wants.“If he were to get in he would only survive if he were propped up on either side by the Scottish nationalists or the Lib Dems. Both of them jabbering in his ear. They both want to frustrate Brexit.”The Telegraph has joined Snapchat! Stay up-to-date with all the election news using the snapcode below: Asked to sum up Corbyn in less than 30 words, Johnson quipped he was: “A Chavez-admiring curiously-vested leader of a sleeper cell of crypto-communists who piratically captured the Labour Party.”The former Mayor of London added he would be “deeply ashamed” if Corbyn was elected Prime Minister on June 8.Asked how he would feel, Johnson replied: “Deeply shocked. I will feel deeply ashamed. Because I will feel we have somehow failed to explain the risk and that will be my fault.” 
He added that in his lifetime, “we’ve never had a leader of the Labour Party who is so left wing”.“I think young people genuinely do not remember the 1970s and the 1980s in the way that some of us do. Labour was very left wing then, in the 1970s things went totally off the rails,” he said. “All the stuff Corbyn is talking about is not new, people think it’s new, this isn’t new. We had this- it was a disaster. Nationalisation- we’ve done all that- it doesn’t work. It’s called left wing socialism.” Theresa May is hoping for election victory Credit:AFP Or by clicking here from your mobile device. Johnson also criticised the Labour leader’s admiration for Venezuela’s self-styled socialist revolutionary Hugo Chavez’s politics and mocked Corbyn’s fondness of wearing a vest.He also joked the Labour Party is full of secret communists ready to turn their backs on capitalism should they win the election. Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
A man has been praised for stepping forward to tackle the flames engulfing a London bus armed with nothing but a fire extinguisher from his workplace.Passers-by filmed the bus as it burned, billowing thick black smoke after the fire broke out on a main road in West Hampstead.There was a “loud bang”, according to witnesses, as the vehicle burst into flames. He took on the blaze The bus was the 113 service on Finchley Road, outside Finchley and Frognal station, and set on fire last night.A security worker from a nearby office rushed out, armed with a fire extinguisher from his workplace, to tackle the flames.He was praised by witnesses as he ran towards the burning bus, dressed in a suit and tie.A witness said: “He wasn’t wearing a mask or anything like that, he just ran out and did what he could. He is a hero. At one point he was so close to the flames, people were shouting at him to get back.”A Transport for London spokeswoman said: “There were no injuries sustained by the passengers or driver and investigations as to the cause of the incident are under way”. 
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MI5’s internal investigation concluded that the decision not to reopen an investigation into Abedi in early 2017 was “finely balanced” and “understandable”.Reviewers decided that ”on the clear balance of professional opinion, a successful pre-emption of the gathering plot would have been unlikely”.Mr Anderson’s review three of the six attackers who conducted “were on MI5’s radar”. As well as Abedi, Khurram Butt, one of the London Bridge attackers, was the subject of active investigation, while Khalid Massood, the Westminister Bridge attacker, was also a former subject of interest. Butt was the “principal subject” of an MI5 investigation called Operation Hawthorn “opened in mid-2015 following information suggesting that he aspired to conduct an attack on the UK”.Under Hawthorn, he was given a priority ranking “signifying high extremist activity linked to attack planning”.He was subject to extensive surveillance, but as time passed, his focus was judged to have moved away from attacking the UK and towards travelling overseas to fight for Islamic State group.It was also disclosed that Khalid Masood, the Westminster attacker, had watched suicide attack videos on YouTube in the days before he drove at pedestrians and stabbed to death a policeman during an 82 second rampage. It found the 22-year-old who was born in Manchester to parents who had fled Libya had first become an MI5 “subject of interest” in 2014, but it transpired he had been mistaken for someone else and his case was closed. It was reopened the following year on mistaken intelligence that he had contacted an Islamic State figure in Libya.But though his case remained closed from that point, “Salman Abedi continued to be referenced from time to time in intelligence gathered for other purposes.”In two separate instances in the run up to the attack, intelligence was received that was “assessed at the time to relate not to terrorism, but to possible non-nefarious activity or to criminality”.An automated trawl of suspects data designed to spot closed cases that could need re-examining “identified Salman Abedi as one of a small number of individuals, out of a total of more than 20,000 closed subjects of interest, who merited further examination”.“A meeting (arranged before the attack) was due to take place on May 31: Salman Abedi’s case would have been considered, together with the others identified. The attack intervened on May 22.”Mr Anderson said: “With the benefit of hindsight, intelligence was misinterpreted in early 2017.” Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings. Between March and June, London and Manchester saw four attacks killing a total of 36 people and wounding another 200. MI5 had planned to discuss the threat posed by the Manchester suicide bomber just nine days after he launched his attack, an official report has revealed.The review by David Anderson QC found the bombing which killed 22 people could have been averted “had the cards fallen differently.”Salman Abedi had been highlighted for discussion at an MI5 meeting due to take place on May 31, but he detonated his explosives at the Manchester Arena nine days earlier.Internal reviews into the police and MI5’s handling of the four terrorist attacks to strike Britain this year said MI5 had on two separate occasions received intelligence on Abedi “whose significance was not fully appreciated at the time”.The report by David Anderson QC, a former terrorism law reviewer asked by the Home Secretary to audit internal MI5 and police reviews, said: “In retrospect, the intelligence can be seen to have been highly relevant to the planned attack.”His 61-page report concluded it was “conceivable that the Manchester attack in particular might have been averted had the cards fallen differently”.Rudd: Nine plots foiled since Westminster attack Mr Anderson said: “The excellent recent record of MI5 and police in defending the UK from terrorist attack came to a brutal end this year at Westminster, Manchester Arena, London Bridge and Finsbury Park.”He said: “After four such incidents over a short period, unsparing reflection was required.”British spies have foiled nine terror attacks in the past 12 months, Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, told the Cabinet on Tuesday morning.Mr Parker disclosed the figures as part of a briefing on the current terrorist threat facing the UK.
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“Our message in this campaign isn’t ‘stay in any relationship no matter how abusive’.”It’s ‘if something is happening in your relationship even if you’ve been with someone for decades there is help you can get’.” The campaign material we have shared this week from the Southend Essex and Thurrock Domestic Abuse Board does not advocate staying in an abusive relationship. It offers people support to make their own choices about the action they take, including when they’re not ready to leave.— Essex Police (@EssexPoliceUK) December 15, 2017 The Essex Police domestic abuse campaignCredit:
The campaign was launched with the Southend, Essex and Thurrock Domestic Abuse Board.Its chairman, Dick Madden, said: “The campaign was developed directly with domestic abuse specialists, domestic abuse refuges, partners and most importantly, survivors of abuse.”The message is clear – domestic abuse is never acceptable.”He said the campaign includes seven scenarios, based on real life experiences, which aim to help victims reach out to support.He said they “thought very carefully” about including Sheila’s story.”Not all domestic abuse cases are the same, and not all victims will want to leave or consider reporting to the police,” said Mr Madden.”Through this particular scenario, we are aiming to reach out to this audience and give them information about the support available, whatever their circumstances.”We want to make sure victims know where to turn to for support.” He noted there were supportive comments on the post as well as criticism.”We think it is positive that the campaign has sparked a debate on a very important issue,” he said. A police force has been criticised after a social media post appeared to suggest domestic abuse victims could stay with their partners.Essex Police posted a case study on Facebook about “Sheila”, a 65-year-old woman in an abusive relationship. “She knew that the abuse in her relationship was wrong but also knew that she wouldn’t leave,” it said.”With help and support from specialist organisations and agencies, Sheila and her husband stayed together, but safely.”The post is part of the 55+ Safety Net campaign, which aims to help older victims of domestic abuse.However, it came in for criticism and Essex Police apologised for the “clumsy language” of the post.One Facebook user wrote “first time I’ve heard people being helped to stay in an abusive relationship”, another said “such a load of rubbish, if it is abusive there is only one answer, get out now”.An Essex Police spokesman said: “We have used clumsy language in a Facebook post that has clearly caused offence and we are sorry for that. “However the stories featured in the campaign are real stories. We heard from victims who wanted help to leave relationships and we heard from victims who would never have called police but have been able to have counselling, family therapy and other interventions that have made them feel safe
Mr Acerbi is said to have gone through a rigorous audition process before being awarded with the coveted role. His affinity for water sports including sailing and canoeing, equipped him with the necessary seafaring qualities, Birdseye bosses said. A Birds Eye spokesman said: “With almost 35 years’ experience in front of the camera, Riccardo nabbed the role following a rigorous audition process at which he impressed Birdseye with his genuine approach to portraying the Captain and love of the sea.”He is not the first young Captain to grace our screens.Thomas Pescod took on the role in 1998 at the age of just 31. The move was a flop however and the character was dropped from adverts. 
The new Captain will replace Mitch Commins 
Unlike his predecessor, the 56-year-old also doesn’t suffer from seasickness. With his shaggy white beard, sailor’s hat and a twinkle in his eye Captain Birdseye is instantly recognisable as the kindly face of fish fingers. But now the salty sea dog has been given a face lift and replaced with a younger – and some customers have noted remarkably attractive – model. As part of an £8 million advertising campaign Italian born actor Riccardo Acerbi, 56, is set to replace South African Mitch Commins, 68, who took the role less than two years ago.The new Captain will make his television debut at 6.45pm tonight [Monday] on Channel 4. The ad is expected to see Captain Birdseye jumping into the sea with his grandchildren, before tucking into a plate of fish fingers.It has been claimed that the new face of the Captain comes as the company aims to make the character more contemporary.Other adjectives have been used on social media. Ok Magazine tweeted: “OMG, the new hunky Captain Birdseye will make you think differently about Fish Fingers.” The new advert will launch on Monday evening Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
The Church of England recommends that its churches keep their doors open outside service times as best practice. It says churches are actually more likely to be attacked when they are locked, “possibly as criminals feel they are less likely to be disturbed in a closed church than one where anyone could appear at any time”. Ecclesiastical, the largest insurer to the Church of England, also suggests that churches keep their doors open. Its advice says that “where appropriate that churches are kept open because of the positive effect that has on security”, and adds that keeping a church open during the day with proper risk assessment would not increase insurance premiums. A spokesman for the Catholic bishops in England and Wales said there was no country-wide policy about keeping church doors open, but the decision was down to each individual bishop. It is not known which diocese the Bishop of Portsmouth was visiting. In the 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis said: “The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open. “One concrete sign of such openness is that our church doors should always be open, so that if someone, moved by the Spirit, comes there looking for God, he or she will not find a closed door.”In 2015 he said at a general audience in St Peter’s Square that churches should make people feel welcome by keeping doors open. A spokeswoman for the Catholic National Mutual Limited, the main insurer for Catholic dioceses in the UK, said: “Churches are places of worship and sanctuary, and it is important that they remain open and accessible to all. “Accordingly, CNM Ltd does not interfere with or influence the opening hours of churches, nor does this have any impact on insurance premiums.”A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Westminster, another Catholic diocese, said that many of its churches in London had been forced to lock their doors following vandalism. Catholic churches should follow the Church of England to keep their doors open outside of services, the bishop of Portsmouth has said. Philip Egan complained that on a recent visit outside his diocese he had been unable to visit any churches because they had all been shut. In a Tweet posted on Sunday he said: “Why oh why?! Just spent a few days outside the Diocese but every Catholic church I tried to visit was locked. “One even had the utter hypocrisy to display a poster ‘From Maintenance to Mission’! Why is this, when every Anglican Church is welcomely open?” Why oh why?! Just spent a few days outside the Diocese but every Catholic church I tried to visit was locked. One even had the utter hypocrisy to display a poster ‘From Maintenance to Mission’! Why is this, when every Anglican Church is welcomely open?— Bishop Philip Egan (@BishopEgan) January 14, 2018
She added that protecting the sacrament was a particular concern. Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
A construction worker’s family has called for justice after he fell from a Qatar 2022 World Cup football stadium building site while using “potentially lethal equipment”.Zachary Cox, who was born in Johannesburg but later lived in Hove and London, plummeted nearly 40 metres when a faulty hoist he was using to put a suspended walkway in place broke at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on January 19, last year.The 40-year-old’s safety harness also snapped under the weight and he fell head first, sustaining brain injuries and a broken neck.He was pronounced dead in hospital just before 3.20pm, Brighton and Hove Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday.Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley found he died from multiple injuries after a fall from height after new work practices, which she branded “inherently unsafe”, were introduced. 
This led to a shortage of hoists so more were supplied by subcontractor Eversendai but Mrs Hamilton-Deeley said these were in a poor state of care and not fit for purpose.Safety certificates were not presented before use but they were still marked as safe. After Mr Cox’s death it emerged these were five months out of date. Mrs Hamilton-Deeley said if Mr Cox had followed the same back-up plan the accident would not have happened. The inquest heard he was experienced but not to the most senior level but had been made supervisor to other inexperienced team members.She said this was “unfair” on Mr Cox and “inappropriate” for site managers to group his team this way, adding: “The extra burden of responsibility must have weighed on him significantly and possibly led to him underestimating that he now needed to rely on substandard equipment.”I think his mind was on too many other things and what happened was probably unthinkable.” “(The new system) was chaotic, unprofessional, unthinking and downright dangerous.”Mr Cox’s sisters-in-law Ella Joseph and Hazel Mayes told how they had been fighting for answers from officials ever since his death.In a statement after the inquest they called for an independent inquiry and for the Foreign Office to step in, adding: “We demand reassurance that those responsible for making the decisions that ultimately led to Zac’s death will be held to account and justice will be served. She also criticised the lack of documentation on the change in work practices and that staff were not properly notified. She said there was no evidence of a risk assessment being carried out but if there was one, it had been “deeply flawed”.The inquest heard friend and colleague Jon Johnson, who was about 20 metres from Mr Cox when he died, first learned of the change to the plan when he was 40 metres in the air.He was working on a separate team and told how he did not trust the “rubbish equipment” so attached straps as a back-up.Mr Johnson, who said most of the workers were in the country on visitor visas, told the inquest: “I heard a large bang. There was smoke, dust and rust coming out of (the hoist). I knew instantly something terrible was about to happen. The rope snapped. The catwalk fell away from under him. There was nothing to stop him from falling.”
“We want to know lessons will be learnt, so other families won’t suffer under similar circumstances.”Zac was a truly special person, with a huge heart and gentle nature. We all miss him desperately.”Colleague Graham Vance, from South Africa, was initially arrested over Mr Cox’s death and kept in Qatar for 10 months but has since been cleared of any wrongdoing.Mr Cox was one of five teams, subcontracted by company Alnix, tasked with fitting the catwalks, used to access lighting, cameras and sound equipment, with winches before positioning them with hoists and fixing them in place.But after the 2016 Christmas break, the staff returned to be told they now needed to lift the walkways with cranes and temporarily hold them in place with hoists until they could be securely fixed later on. Show more Construction work in 2015 on Khalifa International Stadium ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup QatarCredit:Getty The inquest heard extra hoists were brought in to speed up the construction after problems with some of the 1.8 tonne metal platforms, called catwalks, had to be fixed, causing delays and putting the Midmac/Six Construct Joint Venture (MSJV)-run project behind schedule.Recording a narrative conclusion, she said: “The site managers at the stadium knew or should have known that they were effectively requiring a group of their workers to rely on potentially lethal equipment.