Michaela Boor

On the morning of Tuesday 27 March 2018 Michaela and her friend Chelsea Mustafa dropped their children at a primary school on St Paul's Way and walked along Burdett Road to Lidl and Tesco. Her birthday was the following day and she wanted to buy some things. As they walked back towards the junction with St Paul's Way, a pallet carrying more than two tonnes of bricks that was being moved by a tower crane on the Bow Corner development fell onto the pavement. Her friend reached the road and was hit only on the back and hand. Michaela was struck, fracturing her skull and causing catastrophic brain injuries. Bystanders and workers gave first aid, police were called at 9.38am, and paramedics resuscitated her before taking her to the Royal London Hospital. Despite surgery her injuries could not be survived, and she died at 10.40am on Thursday 29 March 2018, aged 29. A man was treated at the scene for shock. Reports differ on whether she died on her 29th birthday or the day after it.

Michaela Boor was born in March 1989 and grew up in East London in a close family. Her mother is Alaina Selby and her father is Matthew Boor, who worked for Matrix Construction at the time of her death. She had a sister, Rosie, and two brothers, George and Nicholas. Rosie told MailOnline in 2019 that the sisters were so close they shared a bedroom until they were 25. Her Facebook account used the name Kayla Boor, and news outlets credited family photographs to that account. Details of her schooling and working life have not been made public.

Michaela was the mother of one son, Kieran (some reports spell it Keiran), who was four years old and at school in Bow in March 2018. Family photographs published after her death show her holding him as a baby and with him as a small child. About ten days before she was hurt she had become engaged to her partner, Andy Murgatroyd, according to her social media as reported by Metro and MailOnline. Her favourite image was a blue butterfly.

Colleagues of her father at Matrix Construction launched a JustGiving appeal for the family on 29 March 2018, and more than 3,000 pounds of a 20,000 pound target was raised within hours. Her funeral took place at Manor Park Crematorium in east London on 27 April 2018. Family members had blue butterfly tattoos drawn in her memory. On the first anniversary of her death the family fixed a heart of flowers to the fence at the site, and were upset when it was removed. In April 2019 they called for a memorial plaque at the completed building. Higgins Homes said it had sold the property and could not intervene.

Her mother Alaina Selby spoke publicly in 2019 and again in 2022 about the family's wait for answers. She described how she walked Michaela's son past the site on the way to school, and how he asked why they could not walk past the building. The family pursued a civil claim through Keith Barrett of the law firm Fieldfisher. The Metropolitan Police kept a dedicated family liaison officer in contact with the family throughout the investigation, and the Health and Safety Executive said in 2019 that it regretted not keeping the family better informed.

The Metropolitan Police led the investigation with support from the Health and Safety Executive. On 12 May 2025 the Crown Prosecution Service authorised charges. Higgins Homes PLC was charged with corporate manslaughter and an offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and four men were each charged with gross negligence manslaughter and a health and safety offence. The defendants first appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 16 June 2025. On 7 November 2025 all of them pleaded not guilty at the Old Bailey, and a 12-week trial was fixed for October 2026. The prosecution opened its case on 5 October 2026. The defendants deny all charges, the trial is continuing, and they are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The CPS has asked that nothing be published that could prejudice the proceedings.

Michaela's death was reported across the national press, and her family have kept her memory in public view for more than eight years while waiting for answers. To them she is remembered above all as Kieran's mum, a daughter, a sister and a bride to be, and through the blue butterflies they wear in her memory.