I watched helplessly as my friend suffered fatal injuries in Exeter statue fall

Grief-stricken Ozie Gilbert today told how he watched in horror as a friend suffered fatal injuries in a fall from a landmark Exeter statue.

Ozie was on a night out with three friends when tragedy struck.

He said one of the group, Tom Callaway, was attempting to place a traffic cone on the top of the General Sir Redvers Buller statue at the junction of Hele Road and New North Road when he fell backwards.

The accident happened at 12.30am on Sunday morning and the 18-year-old was pronounced dead at 5.15am.

Ozie, who has just finished studying at Exeter College, said: “I actually started to climb the statue first but I am not very courageous and so I decided ‘this is stupid’ and came down.”

“But Tom was more of a daredevil and he went up.

“I saw him falling and then he was on the floor… we had been drinking and were being stupid. The last words he said to me were ‘I am coming down’.”

Ozie, who is also 18, added: “We called for an ambulance and stayed with Tom. He had a pulse but we lost it when the paramedics came. There was me and two of my mates and we just stood there crying.”

Looking at the dozens of flowers that have been laid at the scene, Ozie said: “Tom was such a great person.

“Despite what happened, I know he would have wanted us to be happy and remember him how he was. That’s the way he was.”