Cathedral fall victim was UU graduate
A “BEAUTIFUL and intelligent” Ulster University graduate has been named as the victim of a fall from the Whispering Gallery inside St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Lidia Dragescu (23) died after falling 98ft from the gallery last Wednesday in front of horrified onlookers.
She is understood to have graduated from the London campus of Ulster University with a 2:1 in Business.
The figure skater fell holding two notes, one apologising to onlookers who may have seen her fall and one apologising to her mother, Isabela Dragescu (44), and saying how much she loved her.
She was just weeks into starting a biomedical degree at the University of East London when she died.
She reportedly had plans to attend Kings College London to train to become a brain surgeon once she had completed her year at the UEL.
Despite her academic success it was said that Lidia found making friends hard, and would go to St Paul’s regularly and sit in the gallery.
Her mother said: “She went to St Paul’s at least once a week, we would go together every Sunday.
“When she was alone she would go there by herself and when she wasn’t happy, it was her favourite place in the city.
“She loved it there and we often climbed those stairs up to the Whispering Gallery. We last went together in September. I do not understand, she was different, she was very kind and she was the definition of good, she wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“I remember she wouldn’t let me do anything around the house, ‘I will do it’,” she would say. “She didn’t have friends but she was kind, selfless and did everything for her family.”
Lidia moved to Romford, Essex from Romania five years ago with her mother, twin brother Vlad and younger brother Gabriel (16). Her devastated twin has said he “will never celebrate his birthday again”.
It is believed that Lidia climbed the 257 steps to the gallery before climbing over the shoulder-high safety barriers and falling in front of horrified Cathedral staff and visitors.