Party fall man stands by story

The man who fell 15 feet into a basement stairwell following a struggle with Ken Livingstone today hit back at claims he "assaulted" the Mayor in the street prior to his fall.

Robin Hedges issued a statement standing by his account of events at the drunken party where the incident took place and dismissed Mr Livingstone's allegation.

Mr Hedges, 35, who is still undergoing brain scans following the fall, said: "The allegation Ken Livingstone has made - that I 'technically' assaulted him - is totally untrue. I do not know why he would make such claims nearly five weeks after the events. It seems to detract from the central issue, for me, which is my full, ongoing injuries. I stand by my statement published in full in the Evening Standard on 20 June."

Mr Hedges, art editor at the Evening Standard's ES magazine, remains off work and suffers dizzy spells since the incident at the party held on 18-19 May to celebrate the 40th birthday of his pregnant girlfriend Emma Beal's sister Kate.

His rebuttal of the Mayor's claims was echoed by eyewitness Stuart Williams whose testimony to the Evening Standard was attacked yesterday by the Mayor at the emergency meeting of Greater London Assembly.

Mr Williams, a 32-year-old architect who lives next door to the party, said: "Every account I've given has been exactly the same - why would I change now?

"I saw he was having the argument and I saw the arm reach out and Robin Hedges just fell over the edge. I can't comment on what Mr Livingstone thinks happened, it's just what I saw. He was on the front porch, I could see clearly, and he lashed out at Robin and he fell.

"He wasn't to be seen when the police and ambulance got there. That's the main points he's refuting and I stand by them 100 per cent. It's exactly what I saw."

Mr Williams maintained that he had also seen Mr Livingstone pushing his girlfriend down the stairs and around the corner in a rough manner.

Labour MPs last night said that they thought Ken Livingstone had failed to explain adequately events at the party.

They also made clear that disquiet over the affair would hamper the Mayor's campaign to be readmitted to the Labour Party, despite his claim to have explained his conduct into the London Assembly.

Stephen Pound, MP for Ealing North, said: "I would like to think that had put the whole matter to bed but I really feel that we do need to get the full details because the story is changing by the minute. In the GLA, some very serious questions need to be asked and, more importantly, answered." Another Labour MP, Tom

Watson, said of Mr Livingstone's statement giving his own version of what happened at the party in Tufnell Park: "It was an extremely bizarre denial. It has raised more questions than answers. It has definitely hindered his prospects for re-admission to the Labour Party. This is quite simply a bizarre series of circumstances for a Mayor to be involved in."

Its ruling national executive is due to decide next month whether to let him run as Labour's official candidate in the next mayoral race in 2004. London Labour MPs were split on the issue when Charles Clarke, the party chairman, sounded out opinions at a private meeting at Westminster on Tuesday night.

The denial of the Mayor's claims by Mr Hedges and Mr Williams highlights a series of omissions, inconsistencies and flaws in Mr Livingstone's statement to the GLA yesterday.

Mr Livingstone referred to different reports in the Evening Standard over the size of the wall Mr Hedges plunged from and said he personally measured it at 10 feet. The height of the wall was in fact taken from a detail in an official log written by the London Ambulance Service.

Mr Livingstone also criticised Mr Williams for changing his story, saying that, as an unnamed witness quoted in the paper on 31 May he had merely been woken by the thud of someone falling. In fact the first statement was by nurse Elizabeth Rose, who waived her anonymity and supported the Standard's claims yesterday.

In addition Mr Livingstone claimed the paper said he disappeared before the arrival of police. In fact we said he left the scene of the accident, the stairwell area - a claim vindicated yesterday when the Mayor admitted he went inside the house in Tufnell park where the party was being held.

The Mayor also claimed the Standard had failed to print a one paragraph letter from Emma Beal, her sister Kate, and an other partygoer Mike Furniss, a former lover of Emma Beals', claiming comments ascribed to them in the paper were untrue. Their comments were published on 21 June.

The Mayor's account raised other inconsistencies:

Earlier in his statement yesterday Mr Livingstone said Emma Beal made calls to Mr Hedges in her capacity as one of his "oldest and best friends and they agreed a statement". Later he admitted he and his GLA Chief of staff were present and that "I may have had an input. It is difficult to remember".

The Mayor also claimed yesterday that "at no time have I or any GLA officials spoken to Mr Hedges since the evening of the accident," and yet in an interview with the BBC on Friday 21 June he said: "Robin couldn't handle the press directly so I said, 'Do you want me to put this out?' And he said 'yes'."

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