London Man Dies After Being Rammed by Shopping Trolley

The victim of a "trolley rage" attack in a Marks & Spencer store has died, leaving the suspect in the incident facing a potential murder charge.

Michael Buckley, 60, suffered a broken hip and wrist when he was knocked to the ground at the Glades shopping centre in Bromley, south-east London, three days before Christmas. But his condition subsequently deteriorated, and he suffered a heart attack and died on Tuesday 5 March at Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough.

A 30-year-old woman who was arrested at the time on suspicion of grievous bodily harm was subsequently released on police bail.

Buckley weighed just 8st and suffered from severe ear problems that required him to wear two hearing aids. He had retired from his gardening job at a cemetery due to ill health.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "A 60-year-old man who was struck with a shopping trolley and knocked to the ground on 22 December in Bromley, Kent has died.

"Police were called to a store in The Glades shopping centre, in Bromley, at 1pm on 22 December, following reports of a man injured during an altercation.

"It is understood that the man, aged 60, was struck with a trolley being pushed by a woman.

"He fell to the ground and sustained injuries including a broken hip and wrist, and was taken to a Kent hospital for treatment.

"On Wednesday, 26 December, officers were informed that the man had suffered further health complications and that he was now in a critical condition."

Witnesses told police the woman at the centre of the inquiry shoved into him with her trolley, knocking him to the ground.

A member of staff said: "She just seems to have got enraged that he did not move out of her way quickly enough and rammed into him. It is everyone's nightmare. We have seen it so many times in the food hall. People are just so impatient these days."

A neighbour said: "Michael wouldn't say boo to a goose - he was very frail."

Following the death of his wife, Irene Christie, a model and actress, two years ago, Buckley lived alone, caring for her macaw Max, which played a key role in the Roger Moore Bond film For Your Eyes Only.

A neighbour, who had known Mr Buckley for 15 years, said: "He loved wildlife and was a very generous and well liked man."

She described Buckley as frail and said he had taken early retirement from the office of Camberwell New Green Cemetery some years ago because of a knee injury.

She said: "He wore a hearing aid and even though he was 60 he looked much older... like a strong breeze would blow him away."

The clash was the latest in a growing number of so-called "trolley rage" incidents in supermarkets.

In November 2011, pregnant mother Hayley Cook was jailed for a year after breaking a woman's pelvis outside a branch of Tesco in Ramsgate.

In March the same year, police were called to Morrisons in Weymouth, Dorset, to break up a fight between shoppers.