Inquest told of student catapult death

A student was killed in a bizarre stunt after he was hurled more than 30m through the air by a human catapult, an inquest today heard.

Oxford University student Kostydin Yankov, 19, suffered multiple injuries when he missed a safety net after being flung from a medieval-style trebuchet catapult.

Mr Yankov, a biochemistry undergraduate known as Dino, was part of the university extreme sports club - the Oxford Stunt Factory - who had visited the trebuchet site in Middlemoor Water Park near Bridgwater, Somerset, in November 2002.

Mr Yankov, from Bulgaria, had been one of five members from the Oxford Stunt Factory to use the £40 per launch trebuchet on November 24.

The inquest in Taunton, Somerset, heard how the trebuchet was a medieval siege weapon favoured by the Romans, but had been used to fire plague-ridden corpses and other missiles over castle ramparts.

Catapult designers Richard Wicks, 33, from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, and David Aitkenhead, 46, of Fiddington near Bridgwater, had made a modern-day trebuchet that would fire human "shots" instead of missiles.

Mr Wicks' partner, Stella Young, told the court how she had broken her pelvis after using a prototype of the trebuchet in May 2000.

The human resources manager had gone to work alongside Mr Wicks and Mr Aitkenhead on the contraption and had been responsible for weighing Mr Yankov before the jump and warning him of its dangers.

She said: "I hit the net, bounced in and bounced out, breaking my pelvis in three places. I would tell jumpers what had happened to me and how lucky I was. It is a very, very dangerous thing to do."

The inquest heard that several members of the Oxford Stunt Factory had become concerned about the safety of the trebuchet.

Oliver Nelkin, who was due to jump after Mr Yankov, said he was alarmed that jumpers were landing at the very front of the 10m x 20m safety net rather than in the middle as intended.

Via a written statement, he said he had become concerned after watching the first jumper, Paul Capsey. He said: "He landed on the net, but more to the front edge than I had seen before. For a split second I thought he was not going to make it and I felt relieved when he did."

Mr Nelkin added that other jumpers also appeared to land at the front of the net and the remaining jumpers were becoming concerned.

Some members of the stunt club were intended to complete jumps wearing fancy dress costumes, but after the first jump were told by instructors to remove any capes they were wearing which could slow down jumpers through the air.

He said that prior to Mr Yankov's jump, the weights that control the length of the jump were altered on the trebuchet.

Describing Mr Yankov's jump he said: "At some stage I saw Dino as a ball in the air. He then missed the safety net, but I couldn't say by how much.

"As he hit the ground I heard a thud and then a second thud."

Paramedics rushed to the scene and Mr Yankov was taken to Bristol's Frenchay hospital where he later died.

Mr Nelkin said that after the accident he had asked himself whether the removal of some weights had affected the flight, causing Mr Yankov to fall short.

Mr Capsey, who had undertook the first jump of the day, also helped out on the trebuchet.

Explaining the safety procedure to the jury, he said that each jumper was initially weighed and placed into a weight category. The jumper was then weighed again while wearing safety equipment.

The weights on the trebuchet are then changed to match the weight of the jumper and a test weight that corresponds to the jumper's weight is then fired to check for any problems.

He said all safety checks were taken prior to Mr Yankov's jump.

Last year, Mr Wicks and Mr Aitkenhead were acquitted of Mr Yankov's manslaughter after the trial collapsed at Bristol crown court.

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