A JURY found that a former councillor fell to his death because of rotting balcony railings and an "inadequate" safety system.

Gas plumber Andrew Rae, 55, plunged from the first floor balcony of a flat in St Thomas's Street, Preston, after he had gone to the address to carry out boiler repairs for his employer, Preston City Council.

An inquest heard how Mr Rae had arrived at flat 4a with a colleague on the morning of January 31, 2007. After he knocked on the door of the maisonette, he leant against the wooden railings which gave way and he fell on to concrete paving.

Mr Rae, whose widow Angela is a teaching assistant at a Blackburn school, was taken to Royal Preston Hospital where he died from multiple injuries. Returning a narrative verdict reflecting the sequence of events that led to Mr Rae's death, the 11-strong jury at Preston and West Lancashire coroner's court yesterday found that there was "a flaw" in the design of the balustrade, but that "the primary determining factor was the decay and degradation of the timber".

The unanimous verdict also concluded there was no preventative mainten-ance programme, nor any "evidence that there was an adequate system in place to record and resolve complaints and mainten-ance requests".

On Thursday, the inquest heard from two residents of the maisonettes, owned by Community Gateway housing association, who said that the balcony was in a "really, really bad" condition. Both said they had reported problems to the authorities.

Diane Bellington, chief executive of Community Gateway said she was "absolutely confident that we log every single call which we receive", but police said that the only records of any complaints regarding St Thomas's Street related to the 1990s.

The Health and Safety Executive said it was not yet known if any further action would be taken against the city council.

Mrs Rae said: "I think it's the right verdict, and now I would like to draw a line under it all.

"It has taken a long time to be investigated, and this has now brought closure for me and his family."

Preston City Council chief executive Jim Carr said: "Andy was popular and well respected. Our sympathies are with his family."

Mr Rae, of Wellfield Drive, Burnley, was a councillor for Brunshaw ward in Burnley from 1998 to 2002.