Contractor killed after being electrocuted in Marks and Spencer store is named

A contractor who was electrocuted in a shopping centre yesterday has been named as 62-year-old Philip Dodd.

Mr Dodd, from Horley, Surrey, died after suffering an electric shock in a Marks & Spencer store in the Royal Victoria Place shopping centre in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Kent Police said Mr Dodd was found dead in a staff area of the shop where he had been working.

He is a widower and his family have been informed, police said.

Police said they were treating the incident as a "work-related, unexplained death".

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's health and safety officer is working with police to investigate the incident.

There was no need to evacuate the store and no members of the public were involved or affected by the incident, police said.

The cause of Mr Dodd's death is not yet known and a post-mortem examination is expected to take place later this week.

Police were called just before 3.30pm to the store in Calverley Road where it is believed Mr Dodd suffered an electric shock. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers were called by paramedics from the South East Coast ambulance service who arrived at the scene first. The air ambulance also attended.

A Marks & Spencer spokeswoman said yesterday: "There has been a tragic incident at the store today and our thoughts are with the family concerned.

"We are now concentrating on doing all we can to assist the emergency services with their investigation and as such are unable to comment any further at this stage."

PA