Boy was chased by gang before fatal tower block fall

A teenager who fell to his death from a block of flats yesterday had been climbing down the outside of the building to escape a gang, police said today.

Ahmed Benyermak, who fell from a building on the Trelawney estate in Hackney, east London, may have feared he was about to be attacked with a knife, residents said.

The 16-year-old began climbing down from a 13th floor balcony on the block, in Paragon Road, descending six stories before finding his way blocked by a metal grille and losing his footing, police said.

Ahmed, who had been due to pick up his GCSE results today, was pronounced dead at the scene at 4pm yesterday.

"This is a tragic and unnecessary death," Detective Chief Inspector Ian Stevenson, leading the inquiry, said.

"The victim was with a group of friends on the 13th floor of a tower block when they became concerned about another group of youths cycling towards the tower block. This caused the victim and his friends to leave the area.

"The victim was separated from his friends. He climbed onto the outside of the tower block via an open balcony and then climbed down several floors trying to escape.

"He reached the seventh floor, when he could no longer carry on. After this point, he fell to his death."

The other group of youths were described as black males. Some were wearing hooded tops, while others wore bandanas.

Neighbours said they had heard that Ahmed had inadvertently attracted the attention of a gang as they threatened someone else.

"I've heard that he saw a gang chasing someone else and he thought they were carrying knives," one said. "Apparently when he saw the knives he started to run towards the flats and the gang chased him."

Ahmed's headmaster at the Hackney Free and Parochial secondary school, Richard Brown, said: "We expected today to be about GCSE results, and what you then find is one of the youngsters who has worked very hard for their GCSEs has been the victim of this tragedy. People are very shocked and upset.

"The great achievement is he achieved 9 GCSEs. I've spoken to his family this morning, and they are most proud of the fact that he got a C in maths and a C in science. He also got two other C grades."

A post mortem examination revealed that Ahmed died of a ruptured aorta, the main artery taking blood to the heart.

An incident room has been set up, and police are appealing for witnesses. No arrests have been made.