Inquiry Hears Witness Accounts of Screams Before Aberdeen Death

Witnesses told a fatal accident inquiry they heard repeated calls for help from a high-rise flat in Aberdeen before Jamie Forbes, 37, fell to his death in January 2024. Gail Thomson, 27, told the court she called 999 on the morning of 15 January 2024 after hearing screams coming from six floors below the top of the 18-floor building.

She said she told the call handler she could not walk by without reporting what she heard. Lindsay Barrett, 47, said she also called 999 after hearing a man's voice shouting for help numerous times and described the shouts as distressed and desperate.

Victoria Esan, 40, told the inquiry she heard screams of "call the police" and that the man shouted he was in flat number 47. She later gave that information to officers. Police carried out door-to-door inquiries after the incident but were initially unable to trace the source of the pleas.

Officers later found the lock of the flat's door had been tampered with, leaving the window as the only escape route. The inquiry heard that Forbes had been held against his will at the flat in Elphinstone Court for two days before falling from the window on the afternoon of 15 January 2024.

A post mortem examination found multiple internal injuries from the fall and sharp force injuries to his hands described as classic defence-type injuries. The fatal accident inquiry at Aberdeen Sheriff Court is scheduled to last about four days, after which Sheriff Principal Andrew Miller will consider his determination.