AUDIO CLIP: Jury hear DJ urging people to leave Northampton club where two teenagers died
Sound clips of the unnamed man were played to a jury yesterday at the inquest of Nabila Nanfuka and Dani Jackson who died after the Wickedest Wickedest night at Lava & Ignite, St Peter’s Way, on October 18 2011.
Today Northamptonshire Police presented CCTV images of the scene on the stairs and landings of the club in the early hours of October 19, interspersed with announcements made by the DJ.
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Hide AdHe is heard to say: “All hotels are booked up, you’ll get left behind.” and “The driver is pissed off, he’s going to leave you.”
Giving evidence, PC Leanne Tyson, who counted the number of people in the club said: “At the end, it got more urgent, especially when the DJ’s themselves were leaving.”
DI Louise Hemingway said there were between 1,687 and 1,554 people in Lava & Ignite at any one time judging by footage from cameras at the door.
But she said the number may have been higher.
She said: “There were some issues around some of the fire exits. Some people may actually have come in through the fire exits.”
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Hide AdThe CCTV footage showed up to 70 people on the small landing near the cloak room, with those trying to collect their belongings forming an immovable mass and people pushing past as they leave the dancefloor.
People fell on top of others and fell to the floor, with a number of unconscious people being pulled from the crowd by clubbers and door staff.
Chinedu Ani, a VIP guest who was at the bottom of the stairwell when the crush began, said: “People were crying screaming, moaning. Some of them looked like they were running out of breath.”
At about 3.44am, the inquest heard, a crush developed on the stairs and as a result 28 people were injured.
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Hide AdNabila, a student at the University of Northampton, and Dani were both found unconscious on the stairs and taken outside for treatment and then subsequently to hospital.
Nabila died in Northampton General Hospital in the early hours of that day, October 19.
Dani died of her injuries at a hospital in Leicester on November 6.
It was confirmed today that both girls died after suffering compression of their chests.
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Hide AdDani suffered a “severe brain injury” from being starved of oxygen and Nabila’s injuries included haemorrhaging of the eyes because of high blood pressure in her head.
The inquest could last up to three weeks and barristers are present for the security firm overseeing the event as well as the company that owned Lava & Ignite, Luminar leisure, which has been liquidated.
Northampton Borough Council, Northamptonshire Police, Northamptonshire fire and Rescue Service, Lava & Ignite’s former managers and Dani’s family are all represented as well.