London -
He appeared to have the perfect life. On a recent tropical holiday, South African-born Nico Lambrechts looked a relaxed and contented family man as he posed with his wife.
But less than three weeks after he posted the holiday photograph on the internet, the investment analyst fell 25 metres to his death from an exclusive open-air restaurant in London.
The successful 46-year-old took a lift to Sir Terence Conran’s Coq d’Argent at lunchtime and then fell through the atrium within the building.
He landed next to diners who were enjoying lunch at cafes and bars in a shopping complex at the bottom of the building in the City.
Medics reached him within minutes but were unable to save him. He was pronounced dead by a doctor at the scene minutes later.
Lambrechts is thought to have made the short walk to the restaurant from his office at Investec Asset Management in the Square Mile.
The Telegraph reports that Coroner's officer Paul Major told City of London Coroner's Court that family friend Bernard Abrahamsen had identified the body of the investment specialist, who lived with his wife and three children in the leafy Surrey stockbroker belt of Cobham.
Major said: “He states that at 2.45pm on Monday at St Pancras Mortuary he identified to me the body of his family friend Nico Johan Lambrechts.”
The Daily Mail reports that neighbours said on Wednesday night that they were baffled as to why a devoted family man would want to potentially commit suicide.
His wife Adele was too distressed to talk about her loss.
But a neighbour said: “He was a really great guy.”
When asked about the reason behind the possible suicide, he said: “You never know. He was a random man, unpredictable – you know.”
The banker’s death last week is the fourth to have occurred at the restaurant and the second in as many months.
In May 2007, City employee Richard Ford, 33, died after he plunged from the terrace onto a bus.
In July 2009 stockbroker Anjool Malde, 24, leapt to his death from the venue holding a glass of champagne after being suspended from his job at Deutsche Bank.
And last month diners watched in horror as businesswoman Rema Begum, 29, took a sip of wine from her glass on the outdoor terrace, before putting her handbag on the floor and then toppling over the edge.
A woman who works in a shop nearby said the restaurant was ‘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.
On Wednesday an inquest into Lambrechts’ 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.
“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.” - Daily Mail, IOL