Pictured: sunbather who had miracle escape when frozen corpse landed three feet from him in London garden

A sunbather who was nearly hit by the body of a stowaway falling from a planewas left in “complete shock”, neighbours said today. 

Software engineer John Baldock was in his garden in Claphamwhen the man’s body crashed onto the lawn just a metre away after falling from the Kenya Airwaysflight.

A neighbour said Mr Baldock was left “trembling” and is now believed to have left the house where he rented a room, to stay with his parents in Devon.

The neighbour said: “John was sunbathing in the back garden. I heard a loud crash, I thought the house was falling down.

“My husband saw the body in the garden. John came to the front of the house, he was trembling and shaking, he could hardly speak.

“He has gone away and hasn’t been back since the incident.” The force of the impact left a crater in the lawn and smashed paving stones in a path.

The neighbour said that Mr Baldock, who is in his twenties, recently moved into the £2.3 million house, which he had rented from friend Bob Renwick. He worked for Mr Renwick’s software firm Plexi based in Bermondsey.

Another neighbour said it was a “miracle” no one else was killed when the stowaway plunged 3,500ft from the plane at around 3.30pm on Sunday, nine hours after the flight set out from Nairobi.

David Carmalt, 43, a Lloyds banker, told the Standard: “Our neighbour was sunbathing in the garden at the time and the man landed a metre away.

“It is a miracle no one else was killed. If the pilot had opened the wheel compartment a few seconds later, he would have fallen out over Clapham Common.

“Our sympathies are with our neighbour and the poor man. You wonder how desperate someone has to be to try to stow away on a plane.”

It is not known if the man was already dead at the time he fell. He would have had to survive at temperatures as low as -60C with little oxygen. Police said a bag, water and some food were discovered in the landing gear compartment of the plane.

Detectives were today trying to identify the victim and were liaising with the airline and Kenyan authorities.

Kenya Airways was contacted for comment.