Death of DJ who fell from window remains a mystery

A popular DJ died from head injuries after falling from a window of his second-floor flat, an inquest at Wells was told yesterday.

But how or why he fell remains a mystery.

Luke “Lenny” Harris, 22, of Glastonbury, Somerset, a 6ft 5in gentle giant, had been suffering from depression, and had been drinking throughout the day of his death both with friends at home and at the Market House public house in the town. But East Somerset coroner Tony Williams said the evidence was “nowhere near strong enough to come to the conclusion that he took his own life”.

Mr Harris fell from the open living room window of the flat in Northload Street, at about 11.20pm on February 25, last year. Friends were in the flat but no one witnessed the tragedy. He died in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, two days later.

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Student Jack Wickham, 15, who was walking in the road below with friend Charlie Hemmings, 17, said in a written statement: “I could see someone sitting in the window with his back to the street. As I looked up the person seemed to roll backwards out of the window… The person seemed to grab the gutter with his left hand and hang on for a split second and then fell on his side.”

The inquest heard that Mr Harris had sometimes sat in the open window to smoke.

He had recently lost his job at a dairy farm. He had also had a row with a friend the night before his death over an alleged debt of £1,400 said to include payment for drugs.

Rumours flew round the town after Mr Harris’s death, suggesting a drugs connection and pondering whether any money that he might have owed had a bearing on his death. A text message sent from the creditor suggested Mr Harris should ask relatives for the money or get it from savings and added: “Then we can try to repair what is left of our friendship.”

Mr Williams said: “That seems to reflect a bit of a row between a couple of buddies.”

Emma Cork, a good friend who shared the flat, described Mr Harris as “the most generous person and also the kindest who always put others first.”

The former pupil of the Blue School, Wells, had many friends and had been particularly affected by the death of one, George Elliott, who died aged 19 in 2008 when he was a passenger in car which crashed into a tree.

Friend Lainey Moran from Brislington told the hearing that Mr Harris seemed “distraught and tearful” when she saw him in the Market House pub.

He told her: “I want to make people happy, but I am not happy myself.”

Mr Williams recorded an open verdict.