Accident verdict on wall plunge prankser
A CORONER has recorded a verdict of accidental death on a teenage prankster who died after falling from a riverside wall. Joshua Calladine (19) died when he fell from the wall off Don Street in Rotherham in the early hours of July 23 after a night out
A CORONER has recorded a verdict of accidental death on a teenage prankster who died after falling from a riverside wall.
Joshua Calladine (19) died when he fell from the wall off Don Street in Rotherham in the early hours of July 23 after a night out in Mexborough and Barnsley.
The 19-year-old, described by friends and family as “outgoing, funny, loving and sociable”, was playing a prank by running away from friends Christopher Darby and Erica Ducker when the incident happened.
The pair carried out a frantic search for Josh after he disappeared at 3am on July 23 but he was not found until a passer-by discovered him unconscious more than two hours later on the towpath under the Main Street bridge over the River Don.
Josh, of Cromwell Road, Mexborough, underwent an operation for bleeding on the brain but never left hospital and died a week later.
The inquest at Rotherham Coroner’s Court heard that the teenager enjoyed driving around with Christopher and Erica and playing pranks on his brother Bradley, when both drunk and sober.
Pathologist Dr Stephen Wharton said Josh, who had more than twice the drink-drive limit of alcohol in his blood, had suffered a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain.
Dr Wharton concluded that the immediate causes of death were bronchopneumonia and adult respiratory distress syndrome developed while in hospital, with bleeding on the brain and head injury as supporting causes.
The Rotherham Coroner, Ms Nicola Mundy, described Josh's phone message as “nothing more than him being a prankster.”
Recording a verdict of accidental death, she added: “It's my view that he was playing a prank on his friends. He was expecting he would be found at some point but sadly fell to his death.”