By SCM Staff Writer I 2 June 2026
A SHAME-FACED sports body was hit with a massive £350,000 fine today after a botched, “rushed” job to put up an Olympic cage led to the horrific death of a hero para-athlete.
United Arab Emirates star Abdullah Hayayei, 36, was crushed to death when a five-metre-high throwing cage collapsed and struck him on the head during a training session in East London.
The devoted dad-of-four was in London to represent his country at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships when tragedy struck at the Newham Leisure Centre.
Today at the Old Bailey, UK Athletics Limited was fined £350,000 plus costs after pleading guilty to corporate manslaughter.
The body’s former head of sport, Keith Davies, 79, also admitted health and safety failures. Davies was sentenced to a community order with 175 hours of unpaid work.
The court heard that the massive metal cage—originally donated to UK Athletics after the London 2012 Olympics—was erected in a frantic rush the night before the tragedy.
Davies and a team of five assistants worked late into the night, using their car headlights to see what they were doing on bumpy, uneven ground.
In their haste, the team completely ignored vital safety instructions. Ten heavy metal weights designed to anchor the towering structure firmly to the ground were left completely unused.
Shockingly, Met Police detectives later discovered this wasn’t a one-off mistake. Photo evidence from previous sports events showed the rogue UK Athletics team never used the required safety restraints.
When high winds battered the stadium the following day, the unsecured cage stood no chance and came crashing down on the unsuspecting athlete.
An expert engineer flown in from Sweden took just “seconds” to look at the wreckage and realize the equipment had been catastrophically put together.
In a tear-jerking tribute, Abdullah’s devastated family slammed the “gross negligence” that stole a loving husband and father.
They said: “Abdullah was not just a person who passed away. He was a father and a husband with responsibilities, dreams and a future.
”What happened was not just a simple mistake but the result of gross negligence that could have been avoided had the required safety procedures been adhered to.
”Abdullah went out to represent his country and raise the name of the UAE, but he died because of this negligence.”
Detective Chief Inspector Lucie Card, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Abdullah was a talented athlete whose life was cruelly cut short by the failings by those who were meant to keep him safe.
“This was a tragedy waiting to happen.”
The sentencing at the Old Bailey marks the end of a grueling, nine-year investigation by Scotland Yard’s elite homicide detectives, who vowed to get justice for the Hayayei family no matter how long it took.
To build an airtight case against UK Athletics, a dedicated team of specialist officers launched a massive global operation.
The Paper Trail: Detectives painstakingly combed through more than 1,500 internal documents and expert corporate governance reports, exposing a shocking lack of proper health and safety protocols within the national sports body.
Global Manhunt for Truth: Officers interviewed more than 80 witnesses and took 160 statements. This included tracking down eyewitnesses from rival international athletics teams who had long since returned home to New Zealand and the USA.
Forensic Blueprint: Met officers traveled directly to a specialist factory in Spain to study the cage’s blueprints, while weather experts and topographical surveyors mapped out how high winds and uneven soil combined with the missing weights to trigger the fatal collapse.
The Crown Prosecution Service finally authorized corporate manslaughter charges in January 2025, leading to UK Athletics finally admitting their guilt in the dock in February.
