UK Athletics pleaded guilty to corporate manslaughter on Friday over the death of Abdullah Hayayei, a Paralympic athlete who was killed in 2017 during a training session in London.
Hayayei died after a metal throwing cage fell on him at Newham Leisure Centre in July 2017. Paramedics were called to the scene but Hayayei was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.
Early Friday morning, lawyers representing UK Athletics were present in court and attorney Simon Antrobus entered the plea on the behalf of the organization. Last March, UK Athletics pleaded not guilty but revised its plea. Keith Davies, who served as the head of sport for the 2017 World Parathletics Championships, also entered a guilty plea on health and safety charges.
Davies previously denied gross negligence manslaughter and with his plea on Friday he will not face a trial on the original charge.
UK Athletics and Davies will face sentencing later in the year and the organization could face a fine between $1.6 million and $6.7 million under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007. UK Athletics is viewed as a medium-sized organization under the act and may be subject to reductions in the fine since a guilty plea was entered before the start of the trial.
Prosecutor Karen Robinson requested that the court set a two-day sentencing hearing in June, signaling that her office would not pursue a trial on any of the charges.
In a statement, the organization said: “UK Athletics deeply regrets that the incident in July 2017 resulted in the tragic loss of Abdullah Hayayei’s life. Our deepest thoughts and sympathy remain with his family, friends, teammates and all those affected by the events of that day.
“As you will appreciate, due to the ongoing court proceedings UK Athletics is unable to comment any further at this time.”
Hayayei, who was 36 at the time of his death, was a thrower for the United Arab Emirates in the F34 class and was in final preparations for the World Para Athletics Championships that were slated to take place just a week before the incident.
He was the father of five children and made an appearance at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he finished sixth in the javelin F34 and seventh in the shot put F34. At the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, Hayayei was set to compete in the shot put, discus and javelin.
Crown Prosecution Service, which launched an investigation after the incident, recommended in January 2025 that criminal charges proceed against UK Athletics and Davies.
On Friday, the CPS clarified some of its findings from the initial inquiry and found that UK Athletics owned the cage that fell on Hayayei and was responsible for the proper function of all its components.
“Abdullah Hayayei was a father of five who should have been able to compete on the world stage and return home safely to his family,” Colin Gibbs, Senior Specialist Prosecutor with the CPS Special Crime Division said. “There can be no doubt that UK Athletics were grossly negligent in their safety management, which caused the death of a talented athlete. They left equipment in a seriously unsafe condition, and Mr Hayayei’s death was wholly avoidable – a fact the organization has admitted.
The investigation found that ten metal connectors that linked to the base of the cage were either missing or unused for around five years and impacted its stability. Engineers who examined the cage noted that the base being secured was crucial to preventing it from withstanding the force of wind.
