A woman died after falling from the balcony of her sixth-floor flat in Hackney while clearing a blocked drainpipe.

An inquest into the death of Sarah McGreevy concluded on Wednesday (November 6), at which a coroner urged Hackney Council to take action to prevent future deaths.

The 37-year-old fell from the balcony of her sixth-floor flat in Hackney on June 16 at about 9.40am.

She suffered fatal injuries, and the inquest determined that the medical cause of death was multiple injuries, trauma and fall from height.

Sarah Bourke, assistant coroner for inner north London, highlighted concerns that a similar incident could occur if action is not taken in a preventing future deaths report sent to Hackney Council – the freeholder of the premises.

According to the report, police officers attended the scene after Ms McGreevy fell and found a wooden box on the balcony close to a drainpipe.

The pipe had previously been repaired with “heavy duty tape”.

Police were told of residents on the fifth and sixth floors of the property climbing onto their balconies to manually unblock pipes, especially after heavy rain, according to the report.

Photographs taken of Ms McGreevy’s hands showed dirt around her fingernails “consistent with undertaking a cleaning task”.

“I found that it was more likely than not that Ms McGreevy had climbed onto the wooden box to clear the pipe and had accidentally fallen over the balcony,” Ms Bourke said.

She added: “In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.”

Ms Bourke highlighted concerns that the leaseholder said he was not aware of any work being done to the guttering or drainpipes following Ms McGreevy’s death.

“In the absence of remedial works, the practice of residents unblocking pipes themselves is likely to continue,” Ms Bourke said.

“In my opinion, action should be taken to prevent future deaths, and I believe you and your organisation have the power to take such action.”

Hackney Council must respond to the report by January 1 next year.

A council spokesperson said: “This is a tragic case and our thoughts are with the friends and family of Sarah McGreevy.

“The coroner has detailed a number of issues for us to consider in her prevention of future deaths report.

“We do not expect anyone living in a Hackney Council home to clean their own guttering and, like the coroner, we want to ensure an incident like this doesn’t happen again.

“We will be carefully going through her report and responding as quickly as possible.”

Reporting by PA.