Deaths in 2006

Deaths in 2007

Deaths in 2008

Deaths in 2006

Click on the names below for further case details

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Deaths in 2007

Click on the names below for further case details

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Deaths in 2008

Click on the names below for further case details

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FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS

Ashley suffered multiple head injuries when he fell 25 feet from a roof after climbing up to retrieve a football during a lunchtime kick-about at Cartwright Haulage and Trailers, in Broadheath, Altrincham.

He was taken to Wythenshawe Infirmary and then transferred to Hope Hospital in Salford where he died.

The inquest was held at Manchester South Coroner’s Court when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

In July 2008 Ashley's employer, coach builders Cartwright & Sons, pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court to breaching health and safety regulations. The firm, from Broadheath, near Altrincham, was ordered to pay £7,000 and a further £17,000 costs.

The court heard that Ashley tried to retrieve the ball by climbing on to a mobile platform when he lost his footing and fell, suffering serious head injuries.

After Ashley's death the company was served with a notice requiring them to fix prominent warning notices that the roof Ashley fell through was fragile.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) warned employers to keep checks on their staff, particularly apprentices, during lunch breaks on their premises. HSE spokesman Vincent Joyce said the accident was 'entirely avoidable.'

He said, 'Ashley was simply playing a game of football during his lunch break and went on to the roof to retrieve the ball. We don't want to stop break-time activities such as football, but employers need to be fully aware of what employees get up to on their premises. The dangers of fragile roofs are not always apparent.'

After the trial Ashley's mother said the fine is not enough. Michelle Saunders, 'I am not happy with the amount the company was asked to pay. We were told to expect a fine of between £20,000 and £30,000 and were told of a similar case where a firm was made to pay £50,000 - £7,000 is nothing to a company like that.'

She said the judge had chosen to impose that amount because the firm had worked hard to meet health and safety rules since the accident. She said, 'The firm has spent a lot of money on improving health and safety but it's too late now.'

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Peter was working on the windows of a home in Leigh when he fell 20 feet to his death from a ladder. He fell head first on to a concrete patio and, despite the efforts of staff at Salford's Hope Hospital, died the next day from extensive head injuries.

The inquest was held at Manchester Coroner’s Court on 16 May 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

The court heard that Peter's father, his uncle John Riley and two other young men turned up at Kenneth Stokes' semi-detached house in Angus Avenue, Leigh, to replace the fascias with uPVC.

In a statement Mr Riley said Peter had been putting up fascias at the back of the property and was using his own ladders, which the teenager had previously bought at a car boot sale.

Mr Stokes was sunbathing in his back garden while he watched the men work. He told the inquest how Peter was up the ladder and over-reaching sideways to try to knock in a nail when the ladder slipped and the teenager fell to the ground.

A post mortem examination revealed Peter suffered several skull fractures and massive brain damage.

Health and safety inspector Ian Evans told the inquest, 'The state of the ladders was key in the accident.' He added that at least one of the rungs of the metal ladder was missing and the remainder were dented. The rubber feet which should have been on the foot of the ladder were missing and no one had been holding the ladder to stabilise it while Peter climbed.

Speaking after the inquest Mr Evans stated that the biggest cause of workplace deaths is falling from height and warned people to check the condition of their ladders before use. 'This was the worst case I have ever seen,' he said. 'Every single rung was damaged.'

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David, a chartered quantity surveyor, died instantly when he fell 20ft through a covered trap door and landed on the stone floor at Holy Trinity Church, in Trinity Street, Bolton. David was in the church with another surveyor, from builders G & J Seddon.

David, who was the head of a Preston-based firm, had been asked to carry out a cost study of the Grade II listed building for G & J Seddon, which was planning to convert it into apartments.

He sustained fatal head injuries when he fell through the trap door in the first floor of the church bell tower.

The inquest was held at Manchester West Coroner’s Court in Bolton on 11 May 2007. The jury returned a verdict of 'Accidental Death'.

The hearing was told it was not known who covered the trap door but that people had been sleeping rough there.

Charles Cottle, a health and safety inspector, said after the inquest, 'We need to highlight that there is a proper risk assessment process. As we have seen in this tragic case, just being careful isn't always enough.'

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Mark, a window cleaner, drowned in his bucket of water after suddenly collapsing while he worked,

The inquest was held at Manchester West Coroner’s Court in Bolton on 17 May 2007. The jury heard that a heart condition caused the collapse but the cause of death was drowning because Mark had been unable to save himself. The jury returned a unanimous verdict of 'Accidental Death'.

The inquest also heard that the window cleaner had complained about heart palpitations earlier in the year but had not told his doctor.

Pathologist Dr Charles Wilson told the jury he had been informed that Mark had been assaulted in August 2005 which had led to memory problems.

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Anthony fell 20-25 feet from a scaffolding tower while dismantling it at 27-29 Central Road Withington.

The inquest was held at Manchester Coroner’s Court on 1 October 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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Mark was working beneath a 452lb steel compressor in a bailing machine, used to bail clothing at WH Tracey textile recyclers.

Officer Rick Warburton, from Bury Fire Station, said, 'Mr Clegg was trapped by the machine. The action of freeing him took about five minutes. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.'

The inquest was held at Manchester North Coroner’s Court when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

The hearing was told that weeks before the incident Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors had visited WH Tracey and had watched, without raising any concerns, as workers leaned between the compressors to fit polythene sheeting used in packing the clothing bails.

Tests on the machine later revealed the rod holding the heavy press sheered off due to metal fatigue. Mr Geoff Frackleton, a mechanical engineer and inspector with the HSE, said cracks had developed in the rod's metal, possibly over a number of years, and the constant use of the compressor caused it to eventually snap.

He added that Tracey's and Mark would not have been able to foresee what would happen when the machine malfunctioned. Mark had worked for Tracey's for ten years and was an experienced bail compressor operator.

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Stephanie, a lollipop lady, was patrolling outside Seedley County Primary School in Liverpool Street, Salford, when a single-deck M10 Arriva bus mounted the pavement and struck her.

Inside the school her daughter was preparing to finish for the day. Stephanie had been working as a lollipop lady at the school for nine months and was also a volunteer play leader in the community. Stephanie's husband Martin, who had come to meet her and collect their daughter Anna from school, was one of the first on the scene and was heard screaming 'My wife, my wife' after seeing her underneath the vehicle.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester West Coroner’s Court.

Police said the bus was being examined for possible defects. The bus, the Brookhouse to Manchester service, was carrying passengers.

The driver was treated in hospital for shock and minor injuries.

In May 2008 the bus driver, Stephen Wilson, who denied the charge, was cleared, was cleared of causing Stephanie's death by dangerous driving.

Prosecutor Adrian Farrow had claimed Wilson suffered a coughing fit moments before the collision. He told the jury that Mr Wilson's defence would be that he had suffered a 'microsleep' at the wheel but asked them to discount that.

On 15 May 2008 Judge Peter Lakin directed the jury at Manchester Crown Court to find Mr Wilson not guilty four days into the two-week trial.

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Peter, who worked for the agency ISS Mediclean, is believed to have suffered a broken neck when the lid of a cardboard compacting machine fell on him on as he leaned into it. Police and firefighters were called to the hospital following reports that Peter had become trapped in the industrial compactor. He was freed, but died later.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester West Coroner’s Court.

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Martin Pilling

Martin, a sign writer, was in the basket of a cherry picker when it was hit by a UK North bus on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme. Martin was killed when he was thrown out of the cabin and under the wheels of the double decker bus.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester Coroner’s Court.

The UK North depot was examined three days after the incident and concerns were raised over the safety of the vehicles and the amount of training the drivers had received. This led to a public hearing in December 2006 where North West traffic commissioner Beverley Bell expressed concern over the safety of the firm's Polish drivers.

The hearing was told that 100 of the 130 drivers at UK North were Polish and that many had a poor understanding of English. During the hearing Ms Bell, an independent regulator for the passenger transport industry, claimed she was not convinced the drivers had been properly trained. She made the ruling after spending time weighing up the evidence. The bus companies were allowed to appeal her decision.

In January 2007 UK North and GM Buses, which share the same owner, were ordered to stop operating permanently. Both firms had their licences revoked for financial reasons and UK North went into administration. Investigations by the Traffic Commissioner into the safety of buses and driver training continued.

In July 2008 Vincenzo Casale, managing director of Gorton-based GM buses and UK North, and his transport manager David Ellis were both jailed at Manchester Crown Court for 15 months for lying to an inquiry, triggered by Martin's death, held by the Traffic Commissioner.

The Court heard how the pair presented a web of lies to the inquiry over the number of hours their drivers worked. They provided fake spreadsheets and deleted databases in a bid to cover their tracks.

The investigators found that the Polish driver of the vehicle involved in the collision which killed Martin had been working for 19 consecutive days - six more than the legal limit. They also uncovered that one driver had been working for 31 days without a 24-hour break.

The inquiry found that many drivers were going without training. The firm had undergone a huge expansion in 2005 and employed high numbers of Polish drivers. Double decker buses are not seen in Poland and most had not driven one before.

Sentencing the pair Judge Martin Steiger, QC, said they should bear 'moral responsibility' for Martin's death. He described their dishonesty as 'extremely serious'. He said that although the driver's long hours could not be pinpointed as the cause of Martin's death, the fact he had been working for 19 consecutive days remained. He described their trickery as 'a deliberate attempt to mislead a public official.'

Casale, was banned from becoming a company director for 10 years. Ellis received the same ban for five years.

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John Cookson

John Cookson died after being struck by a large concrete sewer pipe when it fell off a digger on a new housing estate in Highfield on Tuesday. It fell as it was being swung into position, causing the pipe to strike John as he stood in a 12ft deep trench. He died instantly.

The inquest was held at Manchester West Coroner’s Court. on 29 October 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

The court heard that a material sling holding a section of the pipe snapped, trapping John between it and the metal box used to reinforce the sides of a trench in which he was standing, A health and safety expert said the sling was worn and frayed and was missing the obligatory safety tag which details the maximum weight allowable.

DJN's managing director David Norris said that John had taken it upon himself to use the sling, preferring it to a new pipe-lifting machine – which it had been company policy to use for the last 12 months – unknown to John who had newly-arrived.

John's foreman, Sean Walsh, told the court that he was unaware of the policy change, otherwise he would have forbidden John from using it. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) confirmed that the change of policy had not appeared in DJN's mission statement for the project. However, the use of slings is still a legitimate method for moving heavy objects with many companies.

HSE special investigator Paul Grady said he believed the eye (loop) of the sling had broken as a result of being repeatedly 'chewed and crushed' by the chain used to attach it to the digger.

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Pat Moroney

While working in a trench at Trafford Shopping Centre, Pat was struck by the bucket of a digger when it became detached and fell off.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester South Coroner’s Court.

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Alphonsus 'Frank' Healy

Alphonsus, a foreman on a sewage works in Athens Way, Leigh, Oldham, fell from a forklift truck and hit his head on 1 August 2006. He died over four months later in hospital.

The inquest was held at Manchester North Coroner’s Court on 25 November 2008 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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Ian Gutteridge

Ian, who had been carrying out work on a statue, died after he fell 30ft from a hydraulic platform in Manchester city centre. Ian and a colleague fell from the basket of the cherry-picker.

Both were taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary. The second man, who suffered a head injury, was subsequently discharged.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester Coroner’s Court.

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John Alty

John, a steeplejack, died after falling 300ft from a disused chimney. Two of John's colleagues saw the fall from the top of the huge stack at Swan Lane Mills in Great Lever.

John was pronounced dead at the scene having suffered severe and traumatic multiple injuries.

John and his colleagues were working on a maintenance project. One man was helping the steeplejack to dismantle scaffolding around the top of the structure, the other was working at ground level.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester West Coroner’s Court.

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Jan Tobolski

Jan, a Polish steel erector, died when a steel beam fell and struck him at the Sarah Tower site, Lena Street, near Piccadilly. Jan was crushed and declared dead on arrival at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

In May 2008 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced that BS Construction had a five-week deadline to improve safety at its Manchester sites, as a manslaughter investigation into Jan's death continued.

The HSE said that BS Construction, part of Bashir Issa's BSC Group - behind the development of the Canopus Towers at Salford, Sarah Tower and Issa Quay in Manchester - had until June 20 2008 to meet safety standards. Failure to comply with the order was an offence and could mean prosecution. BSC Group said it had already fulfilled the requirements and that it was now `an administrative exercise'.

In a statement the HSE also said that investigations by itself and Greater Manchester Police were continuing into Jan's death The statement said, 'The circumstances of the accident are under investigation by the police, who will be considering if there is a case of manslaughter against BS Construction Ltd (BSC) or any individual manager.'

The inquest was to be held at Manchester Coroner’s Court.

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Christopher Maclure

Christopher, a police community support officer, was killed when he crashed his police bicycle into the side of a lorry as he tried to negotiate a busy junction in Hindley Green.

The inquest was held at Manchester West Coroner’s Court sitting in Bolton on 27 August 2008 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) admitted that Christopher's riding ability while on duty was not tested by an authorised police assessor but instead the responsibility was handed to a fellow PCSO, the Court was told.

GMP health and safety officer Marie Parkinson said, 'The system failed in that it was not the competency assessor that delivered the assessment to Christopher.'

During his evidence, Christopher's father Donald insisted that, although his son had always had a bicycle, he was not a confident cyclist. But Christopher did volunteer to become a bicycle-mounted PCSO. Donald Maclure said, 'He wasn't a keen cyclist and he wasn't keen to ride them (his bikes]. He very rarely rode them more than a few hundred metres. Once he got past his mid-teens I don't remember him cycling at all, from about 15 or 16 years of age.'

The inquest heard that James Pennington, a truck driver with around 32 years of HGV experience, was driving an eight-wheel HGV in the same direction as Christopher. He was stationary at the traffic lights at that junction, signaling to turn left.

In order to safely negotiate the corner Mr Pennington moved towards the centre of the road and began to make the turn, having checked both his mirrors. Christopher rode up the inside of the truck and appears to have misjudged its intended path, striking the vehicle on its rear near side as he tried to stop, the Court heard.

Mr Pennington only became aware that something was wrong when he heard a shout from the roadside.

Rosemary Grainey, who witnessed the accident and called out to Christopher, told the court, 'He was going down the side of the wagon and he had just gone past the back set of wheels. All of a sudden his front wheel wobbled and he went into the next set of wheels in front of him.'

GMP suspended all cycling assessments in July2007 after learning that unauthorised assessments were taking place – Christopher had been approved to cycle on duty two months earlier, in May.

After Mr Maclure's death all PCSOs and police officers with less than 12 months experience were banned from riding bicycles while on duty.
GMP has since entered into a contract with national cycling proficiency scheme Bikeability and a new system of assessment, under the guidance of Bikeability experts, has been set up for all officers wanting to ride a bicycle while on duty.

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Brian Miller

Brian suffered fatal injuries when he became trapped in machinery at military bridge makers WFEL in Stockport.

Brian had completed an apprenticeship at the plant after finishing school and later went back to work there as a machine operator for 12 years. His father Colin and brother Rob also work for the firm and were there when the incident happened.

Emergency services were called but Brian was pronounced dead at the scene.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester South Coroner’s Court.

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Christopher Hart

Christopher, a police constable, died in a crash while on duty. He was driving a police van from Manchester to Bury police station when he responded to an emergency call and collided with a car.

Christopher suffered head injuries and died at the scene on Pottery Lane at its junction with Ashton Old Road in Openshaw. His passenger, Pc Colin Harrison, suffered minor injuries.
The three people in the car, a VW Polo, which was involved in the crash were also injured.

The inquest was held at Manchester Coroner’s Court sitting at the Civic Justice Centre on 30 June 2008. The jury delivered a narrative verdict, saying the police van had responded inappropriately. It also said the non-activation of the sirens had been a contributing factor.

The Coroner, Nigel Meadows, told Christopher's family that had he been wearing his seat belt he probably would have survived.

Police drivers are exempt from wearing seatbelts, adhering to speed limits and traffic signals under certain circumstances when the vehicle is being used for policing purposes.
However, Greater Manchester Police's policy dictates officers must wear seatbelts and drive the vehicle to a speed appropriate to their level of driver training and the incident they are responding to.

The Coroner said he would write to the Acting Chief Constable to bring the findings of the inquest to his attention. 'I hope that some good will come out of this and I am sure there will be a change of culture,' Mr Meadows said.

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Jason Carrol

Jason, a commercial tyre fitter, was crushed to death when a 57-seat coach fell on him as he changed a wheel. He suffered serious head injuries when, it is believed, the jack he was using to lift the coach up gave way.

Paramedics and fire fighters were called to the scene, a car park in the Boy's Division of the private Bolton School, yesterday morning, but Jason was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jason owned Jay's Tyres and had a contract with the school to service its fleet of buses and coaches.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester West Coroner’s Court.

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Stuart Shockledge

Stuart fell 50ft to his death as he fitted a TV aerial on the roof of a sheltered accommodation block on Palatine Road, Didsbury. Stuart worked for Astbury Digital in Ashton under Lyne.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester Coroner’s Court.

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Ian Terry

Ian, a police constable, was shot dead by a colleague during training. He was shot in the chest at a disused warehouse in Newton Heath.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) began an investigation into the incident, in which Ian was playing the role of a criminal in a getaway car.

The IPCC said officers were using Round Irritant Personnel (Rip) rounds, which are designed to stop vehicles containing armed criminals. When fired, the rounds release a blast of CS gas at high pressure, but in this instance they were filled with a white powder.

The Acting Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, Dave Whatton, paid tribute to Ian saying he had 'a deserved reputation for professionalism, competency and credibility as a specialist firearms officer'.

The inquest was to be held at Manchester Coroner’s Court.

Greater Manchester Police suspended some of its firearms training following Ian's death and announced that officers would no longer take part in exercises involving Rip rounds until the outcome of the IPCC inquiry.

In December 2008 the IPCC submitted a file of evidence concerning Ian's death of to the Crown Prosecution Service and Health and Safety Executive for consideration.

Naseem Malik, IPCC Commissioner for the North West, said, 'It is appropriate in this case for the IPCC to submit the file of evidence collected during our investigation to both the Crown Prosecution Service and the Health and Safety Executive. It will be for those bodies to now consider this file to determine whether there is any evidence which would warrant the bringing of criminal charges in relation to the death of Pc Terry.'

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