Family appoints HCC to uncover truth about 02 Academy concert death
19th Mar 2024
Gabrielle Hutchinson (with permission from the family).
Today we can confirm that HCC is initiating legal action on behalf of the family of Gabrielle Hutchinson (23) who was fatally injured in a crowd crush whilst working at the Brixton O2 Academy,
This comes days after the O2 reopened, more than a year since the tragedy.
On 15th December 2022 Gabrielle Hutchinson was working at a concert at which the Afrobeats artist Asake was performing. Gabrielle was fatally injured whilst working at the event.
Now, the family are seeking accountability for her death and have appointed specialist lawyers at HCC to progress legal action.
Academy Music Group Limited, County Enforcement Limited and AP (ASP) Security Limited have been issued with letters before action by HCC lawyers representing the family who say they are determined to find answers to the questions they have.
Patrick Maguire, partner at HCC, said: 
“Fifteen months on from the incident, the family has been met with a wall of silence from those corporations who they feel have caused and contributed to the death of their beloved Gabrielle.
“We have now initiated a civil case against those in charge of the venue and those who were operating the security arrangements on that fateful evening. The family are seeking accountability from those who failed in their duty to protect Gaby and others who were killed and injured as a result of the shambolic and chaotic security procedures in place that night. This takes even more prevalence now the Academy has reopened”
Christine Hutchinson, mother of Gabrielle, said:
“We will never let this rest. We are determined to get answers to ensure there are learnings from this and that nobody else attending or working in a similar environment has to endure what we have over the past 14 months.
“We have so many unanswered questions and we hope that by taking this action we can find out the truth and hold those who are responsible to account.
“We are astonished that the Brixton 02 Academy has reopened. At no point since Gaby’s death has anybody from Academy Music met us to discuss what happened or asked our thoughts on safety measures to be introduced to protect the public from this happening again. As a family, we are not reassured that a tragedy like this will not happen again.”