Banker jumps to death

Another one from Rumor Mill News

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2012/10/19/banker-jumps-to-death

Banker jumps to death

AMUKELANI CHAUKE | 19 October, 2012 00:38

A South African-born investment manager, Nico Lambrechts

A South African-born investment manager, Nico Lambrechts, has died after reportedly leaping from a building in London.

Lambrechts, 46, was pronounced dead on the scene after he fell from the top of an expensive open-air restaurant, the Daily Mail reported.

Yesterday, Investec Asset Management confirmed the incident but refused to say whether his death was suicide or if foul play was suspected.

"News of Nico's death has come as a great shock to all his colleagues, said Lauren Thys, a marketing associate at Investec.

"Our thoughts are with his family at this very difficult time, and our first concern is to provide them with support."

Ursula Nobrega, Investec's head of investor relations, said the company would not comment on the circumstances of Lambrechts death.

Nobrega said Lambrechts is survived by his wife, Adele - who was too distressed to talk to the press - and three children.

Lambrechts is believed to have walked for a few minutes from his office and taken a lift to the Coq d'Argent restaurant before falling through the atrium within the building.

Coq d'Argent is owned by Sir Terence Conran.

After plunging from the top of the restaurant's deck, he landed next to an area in which people were having lunch.

Lambrechts died on the scene despite attempts by medical personnel to save him.


Neighbours described him as "a great guy".

Three weeks before his death, Lambrechts posted pictures of himself and his family on holiday.

Lambrechts and his family lived in a £2-million (R28-million) six-bedroom gated home in the up-market town of Cobham, Surrey.

Lambrechts is the fourth person to have jumped to his death at the restaurant.

Richard Ford, 33, a City worker, died after reportedly falling from the restaurant's deck onto a bus.

Anjool Maldel, a 24-year-old stockbroker, plunged to his death in May with a champagne glass in his hand.

Maldel reportedly committed suicide after being suspended from his job at Deutsche Bank.

Before joining Investec, Lambrechts, an investment analyst, had worked as MD of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219345/Why-did-banker-perfect-life-fatal-leap-Fourth-tragedy-City-restaurant.html

Nico Lambrechts jumped to his death in the internal atrium of the Coq d'Argent building

A woman who works in a shop nearby said the restaurant is ‘cursed’ because of the rising number of deaths. ‘It’s become a trademark place to come and commit suicide,’ she said. ‘It’s very sad.’

Coq d’Argent is built on the site of an ancient burial ground where for centuries hundreds of corpses of affluent Londoners were  buried in shallow graves.

The restaurant appeared in the James Bond-themed film sequence for the Olympics opening ceremony that featured the Queen. In the film, diners at Coq d’Argent can be seen waving to a helicopter which supposedly contains Her Majesty and James Bond actor Daniel Craig, who ‘fly’ over the restaurant on their way to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford where the Queen ‘parachutes’ in.

Yesterday an inquest into Mr Lambrechts’s death was opened and then adjourned at the City of London Coroner’s Court.

Witnesses have told how they heard a ‘loud bang’ and a ‘cracking like a whip’ as he hit the ground near Bank Tube station.

Rita Olsen, a Danish tourist, said she thought there had been a car crash. ‘I was texting my friend to arrange meeting her because I was running late and suddenly heard a loud bang and a cracking sound, like a whip,’ she said.

'He was a really great guy. He was a random man, unpredictable - you know' Nico Lambrechts's neighbour in Cobham ‘Someone screamed and I couldn’t see what was happening, but thought maybe there had been a car crash but when the police showed up I realised someone had died.

‘It is really sad and I’m still in shock. I was horrified when I found out what had happened. I feel sorry for whoever he has left behind.’

Some workers blamed the stress of the City for the spate of deaths.

One said: ‘The last girl only jumped not too long ago and someone else died a while back when they jumped and landed on a bus.

‘It’s terrible that someone can be in such a bad place that they would do that. Maybe the pressure of working in the City got to him.’