Lee WinterGAZETTE & HERALD: CORONER Richard van Oppen has recorded a verdict of accidental death on metal worker Lee Winter, who died after plunging through the roof of the building where he worked, during a drunken prank.

At the inquest in Salisbury on Thursday, Mr van Oppen read a statement from Mr Winter's best friend, Stuart Bartlett, telling how he watched helplessly as his friend fell through the roof of Calne's LML Products in Carnegie Road, on the Porte Marsh Industrial Estate, in the early hours of May 16.

Mr Winter, 18, of Woodhill Rise, Calne, suffered terrible head injuries in the 30-foot fall and was pronounced dead at the scene. Pathology reports after his death revealed his body contained 178 milligrammes of alcohol per decilitre of blood.

Recording his verdict on Thursday, Mr van Oppen said he was in no doubt that Mr Winter had died while in a state of severe drunkenness.

Mr Bartlett said he and Mr Winter, who had been friends since they were 12, had drunk cans of lager and alcopops earlier that evening in a field behind Mr Winter's house.

They later swam with a group of friends in St Dunstan School pool. While making their way back to Mr Winter's home later that night, they decided to climb on to the roof of LML Products, 'on the spur of the moment'.

Mr Bartlett said in his statement: "Lee said 'Let's have a laugh' and before I knew it he was scaling a green object which could have been a bin and jumped up on the roof."

Mr Bartlett followed his friend, but as they walked across the corrugated roof, tragedy struck.

"Lee was one to two metres in front of me and I looked up and saw him disappear through the roof," said Mr Bartlett.

"There was a loud banging noise.

"I went over to the hole where he had fallen through and he was down on the floor with his legs and arms splayed. I shouted but there was no reply."

Mr Bartlett said he stayed on the roof for two minutes, shouting to his friend, before getting down from the roof and running to nearby houses where, hysterical, he raised the alarm.

Police and emergency services arrived at the scene and shone a light through the window of the factory where they saw Mr Winter's body on the shopfloor.

He was pronounced dead at around 1.10am.

Mr Bartlett added that he and Mr Winter had often done 'crazy things' including climbing up onto roofs, but that it was a great shock to lose his best friend.

A statement from Mr Winter's father, Steve Winter, told how he had said goodbye to his son earlier that evening.

Describing his son as a 'typical boy' he added that he would do anything for a laugh or a dare.

Following her son's death, Claire Winter told how he had climbed lamp posts and even their home's porch countless times while he was growing up and that she had warned him of the dangers.

Mr Winter had worked at LML Products after leaving school. The factory was closed on the Monday following his death as a mark of respect and workers laid floral tributes outside.

Mr Winter's parents, his 15-year-old brother Daniel and his girlfriend Jenny were joined by hundreds of mourners for an emotional farewell to the factory worker on May 26, at St Mary's Church, Calne.

A former pupil of John Bentley School in the town, his coffin was carried into the church to the strains of Robbie Williams' Angels, Mr Winter's favourite song.

One of Mr Winter's teachers Mr Fellenor, read the eulogy, where he said what a kind person Lee was, while the Rev Philip Bromiley told how Mr Winter had made a mistake with 'tragic consequences'.