Stowaway who fell into Clapham garden ‘may have been airport employee’

A stowaway whose body fell from a plane into a south London back garden may have been an airport worker, a Kenyan official has said.

Police were called to Offerton Road in Clapham on Sunday when the frozen body plunged from the landing gear of a Kenya Airways flight.

It narrowly missed a sunbather.

On Wednesday, director general of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, Gilbert Kibe, told BBC Africa: "Whoever it is most likely had access to the airside because with the way security is tight, it's unlikely that an outsider would have been able to make his way through to the airside where an aeroplane is parked and be able to climb in.

"I'm suspecting it's probably somebody who had access to the airside."

He said the captain or first officer would normally walk around the plane and check the undercarriage thoroughly before take-off.

Asked about security concerns the breach raised, he said: "That problem exists globally everywhere, it cannot be isolated to one airport."

Kenyan media reported British police have sent the dead man's fingerprints to authorities there to try to identify him.