Mark Faulding died after falling in Olicana House lift shaft

Mark Faulding, who was aged 49, died at Olicana House, in Little Germany – where he was a resident – on May 19 last year.

An inquest into his tragic death officially opened at HM Coroner’s Court, Bradford, just a few streets away from where Mr Faulding died.

Chelsea Faulding, Mr Faulding’s daughter, was at the inquest with her auntie and a good friend.

She said she was close to her dad and had a great bond with him.

Ms Faulding added after: “Now I just want my dad’s case investigated thoroughly and if there’s any issues with the building or lift, I want them fixed and the occupants moved out.

“It’s just destroyed my family, to be honest. I don’t even know what to say.”

Mark Faulding, who died aged 49 (Image: UGC)

The court heard how the 49-year-old got into one of two lifts in the building on the ground floor with a friend he made there, Kevin Hodgson.

Mr Hodgson gave evidence at the inquest and said they pushed the button to go to the fourth floor but the lift came to a halt between the third level and where they wanted to get to.

They pressed the lift alarm, which they could hear, the phone in the carriage and both began shouting and kicking the doors.

The inquest heard Mr Faulding said he needed to get out, was panicking and suffered from claustrophobia.

Both men began prising the internal lift doors open after 10 to 15 minutes.

They could see brickwork just in front of them but there were fixed doors on each floor which were closed.

The doors to the third floor landing suddenly opened for “no apparent reason”, according to Mr Hodgson.

He said: “As soon as the doors opened he said, ‘that’s it, I need to get out’.”

Mr Hodgson added: “What could have been minutes felt like an eternity.”

The inquest heard Mr Faulding shuffled out of the lift on the floor, before moving his legs outside and holding onto the structure, in an attempt to reach the third floor landing.

Then he disappeared and Mr Hodgson presumed his friend had made it to safety.

He said: “But he didn’t because I looked and couldn’t see him then I heard a bang.”

Mr Faulding plummeted around 15 to 20 metres down the lift shaft and landed in a tight space at the bottom.

Pathologist Dr Kirsten Hope said Mr Faulding had a catastrophic head injury, in the form of fracture.

He also had a laceration to his torso and broke his left thigh bone.

Fire crews managed to get Mr Faulding out from the lift shaft using a short extendable ladder as a makeshift stretcher.

One fire officer said there was a pool of blood at the bottom of the lift shaft, describing it as around a couple of litres.

Attempts were made to resuscitate Mr Faulding but he never responded and he was pronounced dead after around 30 to 40 minutes.

The inquest continues.