Grandma, 80, died after actor ‘drunkenly pushed her’
AN actor was yesterday accused of killing an 80year-old great-grandmother in a drunken rage.
Harry Goodwin-Sims pushed Ourania Lambrou, causing her to fall forward and hit her head on a metal bollard, a court was told.
The pensioner, who is of Greek Cypriot origin, was taken to hospital and allowed to go home after several hours.
But two days later she was readmitted and doctors discovered a bleed on her brain. She passed away the next day.
Yesterday, her daughter said: ‘She dedicated her life to her children and grandchildren. She always put everybody else first.’ Goodwin-Sims, 29, was alleged to have been in a drunken rampage on a busy street in Camden, North London, last Saturday.
The actor, who has appeared in a number of independent British films and BBC programmes, had attracted police attention by the time Mrs Lambrou was passing, the court was told.
Her daughter Carol Panagi, 52, said: ‘She was coming back from visiting my sister Rita. They had been preparing for Greek Easter. She got off the bus and was about to cross the road to cut down through to home.
‘She looked down the road, saw there was a commotion going on. The police were already there. This guy was jumping in front of cars. He was banging on police cars and everything.
‘The police got out of the car, trying to contain him. She happened to be there – wrong place at the wrong time.’
Yesterday her distraught family paid tribute to the beloved greatgrandmother, who had six children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Mrs Panagi, an art restorer who lives in New York, said her mother was an ‘independent and strong willed’ Cypriot immigrant who came to Britain with a young family aged 17 to work as a seamstress making bridal gowns.
Mrs Panagi added that her mother was an avid gardener, a devout Greek Orthodox Christian and a great cook who was known by locals as ‘ Yiayia’, Greek for grandmother.
‘She has a huge garden. She would grow everything – figs, grapes, olives, apples, pears,’ she said. ‘She grew all her own salad. She was a big cook, she cooked everything... Her house was the hub. It was like Grand Central.’
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday that GoodwinSims, of Finsbury Park in North London, appeared intoxicated and fell into the road moments before the alleged attack.
The actor has starred in British films including The Overground, alongside Pirates of the Caribbean actor Norberto Moran, and
‘Banging on police cars’
recently announced he had landed the lead in a feature film.
He was arrested at the scene after allegedly pushing Mrs Lambrou.
He was initially held on suspicion of actual bodily harm, before being charged with manslaughter and assault by beating.
He was remanded in custody ahead of a plea hearing at Southwark Crown Court in May.