Baying mob urged teenager to jump to death from roof

One final taunt from a group of bystanders watching Shaun Dykes attempting to jump off the roof of a shopping centre in Derby, caused him to jump 60ft to his death.

Detective Inspector Barry Thacker said he was within inches of pulling Shaun Dykes to safety when one, final taunt caused him to jump to his death. Detective Inspector Thacker, a trained negotiator had spent 90 minutes talking to 17 year old Shaun. Meanwhile as the officer was attempting to talk Shaun to safety, a noisy crowd had gathered below, shouting abuse and urging Shaun to jump. Detective Inspector Thacker told an inquest

"Shaun was engaging with us but once the shouts came up he would disengage, close his eyes and count down to ten. This happened on three or four occasions but we managed to get him back and continued talking to him."

The detective had almost persuaded Shaun to come down when one final taunt appeared to be too much for him. With arms outstretched towards Shaun, he reached down to grab the detectives hand when there was a shout of "You're wasting taxpayers money.' Shaun stood up and said its gone too far' and started counting down. Despite more efforts to engage him in conversation Shaun closed his eyes and threw himself off the building. Other taunts were things like 'jump' 'get on with it' and 'come on - stop wasting time.' 'Shaun died instantly from multiple injuries on September 27 last year. Shaun suffered from depression and had taken two overdoses before.