Human catapult stunt led to Oxford student's death

A student was killed after being hurled into the air and missing the catching net during a human catapult stunt, Bristol crown court heard yesterday.

Kostadin Yankov, 19, a first year biochemistry student at Oxford University, hit the ground and died on November 24 2002.

The device's operators, Richard Wicks, 33, of Burnham-on-Sea, and David Aitkenhead, 45, of Bridgwater, both Somerset, are on trial for manslaughter. They deny unlawfully killing Mr Yankov by being grossly negligent.

Opening the case, Philip Mott QC said Mr Yankov, known as Dino, was an undergraduate at Wadham College and a member of the Oxford Stunt Factory.

"Dino was thrown from a human catapult. He missed the net towards which he was thrown, he hit the ground, and was killed."

Mr Yankov had visited the contraption, designed, built and set up by the defendants at Middlemoor Water Park near Bridgwater, with the stunt group that day.

The court heard how the defendants had failed to respond to warnings that something was "seriously wrong" on the day of the death.

The jury heard and saw on video how the operators had used a new untested sling. Though tests had been carried out with dummies on the day, they were with an older sling, which, the crown claimed, was thinner, longer, of a different material, and made by different manufacturers.

Four jumpers used the new sling and landed short of the centre of the landing net, the court heard. Mr Yankov was the fifth to be thrown. He completely missed the net and died from multiple injuries.

Mr Mott told the court how nothing was done after four throws had gone short, despite an ambulanceman, employed for the day, raising the matter with the defendants.

The court heard how the defendants bought the slings over the counter and "thought they were just the same". Mr Mott said the four previous short falls should have made it clear that something was "seriously wrong".

He went on to say that something more than the sling could have been wrong in Mr Yankov's case for him to have fallen short of the net. It was suggested the counterweight was wrongly calibrated.

The catapult was described to the jury as having been built with no professional advice or assistance but through a system of trial and error.

The case continues.

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