Woman Killed By Falling Masonry, Man Dies After Wave Crashes

A woman has been killed after part of a building fell on her car in central London, as stormy weather lashed parts of Britain.

The victim has been named as Julie Sillitoe

Mini-cab driver Julie Sillitoe, 49, was close to Holborn Tube station at around 11.05pm on Friday when the front section of a nearby building collapsed.

Two other people - a 25-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman - who were in the stationary Skoda Octavia were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The male passenger, who was trapped in the car, suffered leg injuries. The female passenger was able to free herself through the rear of the vehicle.

Chunks of masonry and debris were left strewn across the road and pavement, which were closed for a police investigation.

Julie Sillitoe, from north London, was married with three grown-up sons.

A cruise ship passenger also died as strong winds hit the UK, after a liner was hit by a freak wave in the English Channel.

The wave battered the British vessel Marco Polo, operated by Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV), as it headed for its home port of Tilbury, Essex, at the end of a 42-night voyage.

Water smashed through a window, injuring a number of the 735 mostly British passengers on board.

An 85-year-old man and a woman in her 70s were airlifted off the ship. The male passenger later died.

An 85-year-old man died after the Marco Polo was hit by a freak wave

A number of other passengers received minor injuries and were treated on board.

The Marco Polo, which has been to the Amazon  in South America and to the West Indies, is due to dock at Tilbury in the early hours of Sunday.

In Ireland, a 65-year-old electricity worker was killed while repairing a damaged pole near Glengariffe in West Cork.