Acquittals of companies, company directors, business owners and senior managers since 2007

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Death of Craig Rees

Craig, a labourer at a pumping station in Usk, south Wales, died instantaneously when joints on a new meter installation gave way and the water main burst open as he tried to stop what until that moment had been small leaks in a chamber below ground level.

Jeffrey Reed, site agent for the company employing Craig, Lewis Construction of Pontyclun, together with Colin Hughes and Gary Sanford, both production managers with United Utilities which operated the site for Welsh Water, were later accused of causing his death by negligence.

All three denied a charge of manslaughter in a trial at Cardiff Crown Court which began on February 24.

On March 27 2009 Winston Roddick QC announced that the prosecution, having heard the quality of the evidence as it emerged from witnesses, did not think a conviction should follow. He told the jury, 'I have given careful consideration to my duty as an officer of justice and careful consideration to the views of the police and especially the views of the family, who have been consulted closely.

'It cannot be fair to ask you to determine that these men should have set a standard which was higher that that normally accepted within the industry at the time. The Crown has come to the conclusion it cannot ask you to find to a criminal standard that these defendants were grossly negligent.'

The decision followed evidence earlier in the trial from an expert witness about a warning light system at the Prioress Mill station operated when a main is being refilled with water having been drained for work to be carried out.

Mr Justice Pitchford, 'I am probably not alone, having listened to the evidence over many days, in reaching at least a provisional view that those who were recommissioning the main on May 26, 2006 did not have at the forefront of their minds an obvious risk of serious injury or death created by a failure to appreciate what had now become clear.

'I have no doubt those in senior management will have this experience well in mind when faced with a similar situation in the future.' He told the jurors, who he directed to return not guilty verdicts against all three men, 'Listening to the evidence of those who were present at the time of Craig's death, we cannot have been unaffected by the desperate experience they faced nor by the horror of the death he suffered.

'But this trial is neither an exercise in retribution nor is it a manner of judging compensation for that death. You will have heard of the type of cases which are described as criminal neglect in the context of children and there has to be a similar standard here.'

He said the prosecution, to succeed, would have to prove those present had a duty to Craig and that they not only fell below what was expected of them but that their lack of care was so bad that it would be labelled a crime.

He went on, 'The prosecution has obviously overnight been reviewing its position and has decided, in consultation with the family of Craig, that it cannot ask you to convict any one of these men with a criminal offence.'

Death of Marcus Snow

Marcus died after being trapped under moving parts at the Naturediet Pet Foods factory in n Hazelbridge Farm, Chiddingfold, Surrey, on February 2, 2006.

Marcus was working on a semi automatic ‘off load machine’, used to transfer finished cartons of dog food onto a conveyor, when the machine became jammed. Marcus crawled into the front entrance of the machine in an attempt to clear the suspected jam when the pneumatic pick-up unit descended and pinned him to the stack of trays.

The continued pressure from the pick up unit on Marcus ’s chest led to his death by asphyxiation.

In March 2009 at the Old Bailey Robin Orrow, chairman of Naturediet Pet Foods and Andrew Orrow, as employer, both of Thetford, Norfolk, faced charges of manslaughter through gross negligence and consenting to or conniving to fail to discharge their duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Guarding at both the entrance and exits of the machine was by means of photoelectric light curtains. However, both units had been wired out allowing whole body access to the body of the machine and access to several dangerous parts of machinery, the trial heard

The company also failed to act after being warned about the failures two years before Marcus's death.

Half way through the case the prosecution dropped the charge and accepted a plea from Naturediet to failing to discharge its duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

In fining Naturediet £157,500, Judge Giles Forrester said the firm bore a 'high level of culpability' for the death.

He said, 'These are serious breaches because important safety devices which should have been in place to protect employees had been deliberately overridden thereby putting the staff at risk. The risks of serious death or injury were obvious and significant. They had existed for a significant period of time. No reasonable employer could have overlooked them.'

Judge Forrester said the company had put the needs of production ahead of safety and corners were cut in an attempt to save time.

He added, 'In my judgement this is a bad case of its kind. The company fell very far short of the duty of care it held to its employees. The level of culpability is high.'

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Inspector Janet Hanson said, 'This joint investigation with Surrey Police highlighted a number of serious and deliberate deficiencies in the safeguarding of the machine Mr Snow was working on.

'In addition to the photoelectric light curtains having been wired out, the interlock on the hinged access gate to the machine enclosure had also been bypassed allowing the machine to run with the guard door open. Our investigation revealed other machines at the site where also found to have safeguards bypassed and a number of prohibition notices were served at the time of the investigation.

“The ultimate cost of these deficiencies was borne by Mr Snow who tragically paid for them with his life. This tragic incident was entirely foreseeable and entirely preventable. The poor standards of machinery guarding on site meant that it was only a matter of time before the risk of serious personal injury was realised.

'Employers are reminded that health and safety legislation requires all dangerous parts of machinery to be guarded.'

Death of Adrian O'Dowd

Adrian died in January 2007 when a wall fell on him as he worked on a patio.

Patrick Walsh was charged with Adrian's manslaughter and faced two charges of breaching health and safety regulations.

Adrian was working with Mr Walsh, who traded as Advanced Patios and Paving.

Mr Walsh appeared before Nottingham magistrates on 15 November 2007 and was due to stand trial at Nottingham Crown Court on 21 February 2008.

In February 2009 Walsh pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations at Nottingham Crown Court but he denied the manslaughter charge.

Judge Mrs Justice Macur said she accepted the plea and ordered the manslaughter charge to lie on file.

Mrs Justice Macur said she didn't believe he had been deliberately negligent. She said a jury on a manslaughter trial would have difficulty in reaching a proper verdict because there were 'obstacles' in the way

She said, 'A real issue that they would have to grapple with would be the foreseeability of what actually caused this wall to collapse. It appears that the majority of expert opinion suggests that the negligence of Mr Walsh, and he was quite patently negligent, was that of ignorance and failing to obtain properly qualified and expert advice as to the stability of the wall.

'I am not sure the public interest would be served to proceed to trial given the plea.' She said Walsh had been helping Adrian, adding, 'Your actions were intended to provide him with paid employment.'

Stuart Rafferty, prosecuting, said they had 'agonised' over whether the manslaughter charge should be pursued. He said, 'There is a distinction between this case and a case where lives are lost in pursuit of profit and nothing else.'

Mr Rafferty said he had spoken at length with Adrian's family and said they had decided they didn't want the case to proceed.

The court heard Walsh had been suffering since the death of Mr O'Dowd, who was his friend. 'That mortal responsibility is a greater sentence than this court could give him,' said Mr Rafferty.

'Mrs O'Dowd can accept that what she has lost can never be replaced by any punishment from this court.'

Walsh was bailed to reappear at the court for sentencing on March 13 2009 when he was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £7,500 in compensation to Adrian's family.

Death of Satnam Singh

Pervez Mohammed Iqbal was ordered on Friday 21st November 2008 by Wolverhampton Crown Court to pay £15,000 in fines, with £2,800 costs after earlier pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This case followed a Police and HSE joint investigation into a fatal incident on 20 April 2007.

The prosecution offered no evidence on a manslaughter charge.

The court heard that, on that day, Satnam Singh, 62, fell 5-6 metres (16-20 feet) through a fragile rooflight whilst preparing to undertake work on the roof of a textiles factory in Smethwick. Work had already been undertaken to replace plastic rooflights following a burglary at the site and further work was being undertaken by Kundi Electrical to repair recurring roof leaks. Mr Singh was working under the direction of Pervez Mohammed Iqbal who was carrying out the work for Kundi Electrical.

Death of Thomas Mooney

Thomas, a 64-year-old scrapyard worker, was engulfed in flames when one of a number of highly dangerous gas containers his boss got him to help cut exploded at the site in Poole, Dorset.

Directors of Reliance Scrap Metal Merchants and the Company itself faced manslaughter and health and safety charges over Thomas's death.

In October 2007 Charles Parry, prosecuting, told the jury at Winchester Crown Court that the cylinder contained gasses including propane, butane and acetylene, which burned at temperatures of up to 5,000C.

Reliance scrapyard boss David Matthews denied manslaughter and said Thomas was just walking by when it exploded.

Mr Matthews and fellow director Michael Anderson also denied breaching health and safety legislation. Mr Matthews was also seriously injured in the incident.

They were using a machine called a sheer compactor that could apply a cutting force of up to 600 tons. As it began to slice into one cylinder, it sent chunks of metal 'hurtling through the air', the court was told.

Both men were badly burned, but it was Thomas who suffered the worst injuries when he was 'engulfed' in a fireball that destroyed his hair and clothes.

He died later in hospital but not before telling a visitor 'we were cutting up bottles and we shouldn't have been', the jury was told.

Investigators found the valve was still intact on the cylinder that exploded, meaning it could still have contained traces of acetylene gas.

The jury was told personal items that dropped out of Thomas's pockets when his clothes were destroyed by the flames pointed to him being in a hopper that fed metal into the compactor.

The firm's own accident report also stated Thomas and his boss had been working together at the time of the fatal explosion.

The judge at Winchester Crown Court ordered a retrial opening 9 June 2008 and issued a no-reporting order until the trial.

On Monday 11 August 2008, the jury found Matthews guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice – and guilty of two counts under health and safety legislation (Sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act).

On Tuesday 12 August 2008, the jury found Matthews not guilty of manslaughter.

On Monday 11 August 2008 the jury found Anderson guilty of one count of perverting the course of justice and on Tuesday 12 August 2008, Anderson was found not guilty of a second count of perverting the course of justice.

Both Matthews and Anderson are directors of Reliance Scrap Metal Merchants (Parkstone) Ltd and on Tuesday 12 August 2008, the company was found not guilty of corporate manslaughter.

The company had previously pleaded guilty to two counts under health and safety legislation.

Sentencing was adjourned to September, 2008.

Death of Hans Zdolsek

In May 2008 Nottingham Crown Court fined two contractors and two individuals nearly £200,000 after Hans Zdolsek, a German worker, died at a depot in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.

Hans fell 8.5m while he was working at the Wilkinsons distribution centre in February 2004. Plastic tie wraps were used to secure guard rails at the site.

Siemens Dematic, the main contractor, now known as Oldbury (Banbury), was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £47,000 costs at Nottingham Crown Court.

Racking installation contractor Stow (UK) was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £41,000.

The fines came after both pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Meanwhile Siemens Dematic project manager David Hill was found not guilty of manslaughter but received a £2,500 for a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The site's health and safety director David Hastie was also fined the same amount for a breach of the Act.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Mark Dawson said, 'It seems almost inconceivable that professional people should consider plastic tie wraps to be a suitable means of securing guard rails.'

Death of Dean Cox

John Beckett was accused over the death of Dean Cox who was found slumped over a vat of chemicals used to strip alloy wheels at A1 in Wolverhampton.

Judge Richard Griffith Jones entered a not guilty verdict at Warwick Crown Court in May 2008 on the charge of manslaughter by gross negligence after Beckett’s lawyers argued there was no case to answer.

Beckett admitted a health and safety charge over standards at A1, Minerva Lane, Horseley Fields. Prosecutors alleged a 'cavalier' attitude was taken to safety.

Beckett, said to be 'profoundly distressed' during questioning, said he never felt ill because of fumes at work, nor had anyone reported any problems.

He said, 'Nobody’s ever come to me and said, "I don’t feel very well and I don’t like how we’re working." If they had done, I would have done something about it.'

He said staff were supposed to use a hook to pluck wheels from the tank and he told them never to lean over and use their hands.

Steve Cresswell, a colleague of Dean, told how Dean vomited and passed out after suffering a bad reaction as he worked with aluminium wheels in a tank of chemicals.

That was said to have been weeks before Dean died when he was poisoned by dichloromethane, a key ingredient in the paint stripping process. It is thought he had been standing on pallets and leaning over the so-called 'acid tank' to check on aluminium wheels which were being stripped.

He was overcome by the fumes and was found a short time later when Steve Cresswell went to check on him. He told the court how Dean was involved in another incident in the weeks leading up to his death in September 2006. He said Dean began dribbling as he worked with the wheels in the tank.

'We had to sit him down,' he said. 'He was completely out of it. He was breathing but he wasn’t there. He was pale, lifeless.'

The firm shut the day after, but Dean was said to have suffered reactions to the chemicals 'on a daily basis'.

Mr Cresswell, who once had hospital treatment after splashing a chemical in his eye at A1, said he used to hold his breath when working over the tank. 'There were times when I felt a pumping in my head at the acid tank,' he added.

Death of Robert Sharples

Robert had been helping move a caravan weighing four-and-a-half tonnes when one wheel sank into soft ground. As it was being raised using jacks, it collapsed and pinned him to the ground. Robert suffered multiple crushing injuries to his chest and spine.

The former owner of the Dales caravan park and his company were charged with manslaughter over Robert's death.

In November 2007 Windermere-based Lakeland Leisure Estates Ltd, and managing director Phillip Morgan were acquitted at Bradford Crown Court after the Honorary Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, told the jury to return not guilty verdicts as the evidence did not amount to a gross breach of duty.

Both the company and Mr Morgan had denied manslaughter.

But Mr Morgan and the company were ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £47,500 after pleading guilty to breaches of Health and Safety regulations.

Prosecutor Andrew Dallas claimed the death was caused by the 'gross negligence' of the defendants. But on the 18th day of the trial Judge Gullick agreed with a submission by defence counsel Timothy Langdale QC there was insufficient evidence.

He said mistakes or errors of judgement, even very serious ones, were 'nowhere near enough for the crime of manslaughter to have been committed'.

'I cannot ignore the fact that Mr Sharples had been told in previous days not to go under caravans being jacked-up,' he said

Judge Gullick said the methods used to move the caravan were safe providing they were followed to the letter. He told Morgan, 'You were using tried and tested methods which, I am told, were and still are being used in the industry.'

But there were two 'departures' from those methods and that meant the defendants had failed to carry out obligations to ensure a safe working procedure was adhered to.

The judge said they were guilty of 'lengthy and considerable' failure to prepare formal risk assessment documents, despite twice being advised by council officials after minor incidents at another site in Pooley Bridge, Cumbria, in 2003 and 2004.

Judge Gullick said to Morgan, 'You were deficient in your operations but I accept it was not motivated by profit or a couldn't-care-less attitude. In general terms you were a good employer, took pride in your parks and were friendly towards your staff.'

Mr Langdale said Mr Morgan had sold the parks. 'Part of that decision was because he had lost enthusiasm for the work as a result of all this. There is nothing that sets Mr Morgan and Lakeland Leisure apart from other operators in terms of what they were doing that day,' he said.

After the accident, around £170,000 was spent on research, development and air bags and other equipment where needed at the firm's parks.

Death of Lee Alexander

Lee was killed in April 2006 as he worked with his boss at cabinet-maker Shearfab Ltd in Widnes.

Together with manager Andrew Carter, Lee was fixing together cabinets which needed to be attached together using bolts placed through pre-drilled holes.

The fitter would climb on to the body of the forklift truck, leaning through the mast and forks to reach and align the holes. But as the forks were raised and lowered, one of the cabinets began to fall, prompting Carter to instinctively move to catch them.

Lee, who was in his precarious position and had his foot on the dashboard of the forklift, inadvertently moved backwards on to the lever, causing the forks to rise. He was crushed in front of his horrified workmates and died instantly from severe injuries to his head, chest and back.

In October 2007 Shearfab Ltd admitted health and safety breaches along with Carter, who was found guilty of the same offences, and not guilty of Lee’s manslaughter.

The company was fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs while Carter was fined £2,000 plus £1,000 costs, at Chester Crown Court.

After the trial detectives condemned the work practices at the Widnes firm as 'foolhardy, dangerous, and illegal'. Simon Price, of Cheshire police, said, 'Lee Alexander should not have died. His was an avoidable, pointless and unnecessary death in an environment where an accident was waiting to happen.

'If the company who employed him had dutifully exercised their responsibility to ensure his safety, his parents and family would not be here at court today grieving the loss of their son.'

Lee’s distraught family called on companies to learn lessons from the tragic incident and said his death had left behind a huge void in their life.
A statement read, 'As a family we are still coming to terms with the loss of Lee – nothing could prepare us for what happened to him. The fact that it has taken 18 months for us to find out what really happened to him on the day he died has been a very hard time for our family. Lee’s larger than life personality is missed by everyone – his family and his many friends.
'The only positive thing we can take from his death is that lessons are learned from what has happened to Lee. General health and safety is not something to be taken for granted and hopefully another family does not go through what we are going through.'

Health and safety inspector Iain Evans said, 'This was a tragic accident which could have been avoided. Forklift trucks were responsible for just under 2,000 reportable incidents last year, including seven deaths.'

Death of Alexander Hayden

Alexander, a building site worker from Manchester, died when the dumper truck he was driving overturned at City Park trading estate in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Paul Nolan, site manager at the time, was charged with manslaughter following Alexander's death and failing to discharge a duty contrary to Health and Safety laws. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Mr Nolan was working for Denton building firm A &A Building Services, which was carrying out demolition work, refurbishment of units and creating hard standings at the site.

A & A Building Services pleaded guilty to a Health and Safety charge but Darren Barrie Atkins, the firm's director, pleaded not guilty to the charge of manslaughter.

Paul Nolan appeared before magistrates in Stoke-on-Trent on 23 October 2006 and was committed for trial at Stafford Crown Court.

On 17 September 2007 Paul Nolan was acquitted of manslaughter after a 13-day trial at Stafford Crown Court. But Mr Nolan was convicted of failing to discharge a duty, contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and fined £5,000 plus £1,000 costs. He had denied the charges.

A &A Building Services director, Darren Atkins, aged 42, Nolan's manager, denied contravening the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, but was convicted and fined £15,000 plus £7,700 costs.

On 21 September Nolan was ordered to pay the fine within 28 days or face three months imprisonment. Setting the fine the Judge addressed Nolan saying that, 'you were responsible for the day-to-day running of the site and showed a complete disregard for the safety of the workers working under you; you thought you knew best... but you didn't. You were failed by your employers but you failed Alex Hayden.'

The judge also ordered Atkins's fine to be paid within three months, or face nine months imprisonment. To Atkins the judge said, 'You were the director responsible for health and safety but you did next to nothing about health and safety, ignored clear warning bells, fell very short of what was expected and there was a high degree of neglect.'

A&A Building Services Ltd was fined £55,000, to be paid at the rate of £1,500 per month. Of the company the judge said: "There was a disregard to Health & Safety, it fell so very far short...... in the culture of a growing business the ethos didn't change and slack or absent procedures stayed within the company.'

In setting the fines the judge said he had, 'Paid regard to the financial position of the company but aggravating features of the case had set the high fines imposed ... to send a message.' Additionally, costs were set at £1,000 Nolan, £7,700 Atkins and £6,000 to be paid by the company.

The judge's opening remarks summarised the case when he said, 'This case shows why it is necessary to have proper rules and procedure on construction sites - the accident was wholly avoidable.'

HSE inspector Dave Brassington said, 'Basic health and safety precautions are all too frequently ignored and appropriate training is not given for workers on building refurbishment sites - it is completely unacceptable that so many lives are being put at risk. The simple fact is that, despite knowing what they should be doing, too many people are prepared to allow bad practices to continue, even though last year 39 people died on refurbishment, repair and maintenance sites.

'In this particular case there were many opportunities presented to the company, to improve the management of health and safety, but advice given by industry safety experts and the HSE was wilfully ignored.

'We are determined to tackle this issue head-on to prevent such tragedies and will continue to take enforcement action against those who flout safety precautions. Let me be clear to all those who put lives at risk - we will continue to carry out further inspections and will take all action necessary to protect workers, including closing sites and prosecution.'

HSE Regional Director Marcia Davies said, 'My advice to those who work in the refurbishment sector is to plan work, use competent workers, give the required training and use the right equipment safely.

'In June/July this year we ordered work to stop immediately during 14 on-site inspections because we felt life was at risk. Each time that we release statistics or carry out a prosecution in the construction sector there is a momentary improvement in safe working practices but we want contractors to think 'safety first' at all times, as injury prevention is not something to start thinking about after an accident has already happened.

'We welcomed the Secretary of State's decision to hold a Construction Forum and hope that this will further influence the construction industry to manage health and safety issues to a better standard, to minimise risk to employees and the public.'

The court heard that Alexander had only been driving the nine-ton truck for two months - during which he had been involved in two other accidents - and had not received the required training. Approximately two weeks before his death he was thrown from a Bobcat digger he was using when it fell into a trench at the site.

Safety bars, or a trained ‘banks man’, to stop the dumper truck falling down the embankment Alexander was tipping from on the day he died were not in place.

A joint investigation by Staffordshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was launched into Mr Hayden’s death.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Lee, from the Force’s Major Investigation Department at Water Street, Newcastle, said, 'Our enquiries uncovered a catalogue of major health and safety flaws at the site that meant, unfortunately, Mr Hayden’s death was a tragedy waiting to happen.

'This hearing sends a vital message to employers about their responsibility to their staff. We would like to thank HSE staff and the CPS Special Crime Division at York for their support in this investigation.

'Hopefully today’s outcome will provide some comfort for Mr Hayden’s family as they live with his loss.'

Death of Glynn Thompson

Carl Pointon, Director of a family run animal rendering company, was charged with the manslaughter of 25 year old Glynn who died after being overcome by offal fumes at the plant and collapsing in an enclosed piece of machinery as he tried to pull his colleague Ivan Torr to safety. The Company has also been charged. Both Mr Pointon and the firm denied the charge.

The trial opened at Stafford Crown Court in April 2007.

The trial heard how Glynn was lowered on a crane manned by Mr Pointon.

He was eventually freed and taken to hospital, where he died. Glynn's workmate Ivan Torr was also taken to hospital for treatment but survived.

William Davis QC, prosecuting, said the firm had installed a new enclosed rendering process area which meant lorries could dump the animal waste directly into a pit for processing.

He said the firm did not take enough care to ensure staff using this new equipment were safe.

Pathologist Dr Naomi Carter carried out a post-mortem examination on Glyn and found he had 'foul smelling material' in his air passages, 'widespread bronchitis' and his brain was 'very swollen'.

Dr Carter told the court that a person can quickly become unconscious if there is not enough oxygen or they breathe in toxic gases.

She said, 'What he died of was brain damage due to disruption of oxygen.'

Mr Davis asked her, 'Was there anything at all that you found that suggested anything natural causing his collapse and death?'

The day after the post mortem examination, Dr Carter said she visited the Pointon's site, in Felthouse Lane, and looked at the animal rendering 'line' where Glynn collapsed.

'Having smelled a lot of bad smells throughout my career, I would say it was one of the worst smells I have ever smelled,' she said.

A toxicologist who examined gas test results from the machine where the two workers collapsed told jurors that some measurements of hydrogen sulphide were above 'the level that is dangerous to life and health'. Dr Howard Mason said hydrogen sulphide was 'an extremely toxic gas in its own right' and interfered with vital organs such as the brain. In addition, it was also an irritant to the lungs. 'The more you breathe in, the more the lungs become inflamed and the less oxygen you can take in. There's a double effect,' Dr Mason told Stafford Crown Court.

On 14 May 2007 Carl Pointon was cleared of the manslaughter charge.

The firm however was found guilty of health and safety charges and in July 2007 was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay £80,000 costs.

Judge Simon Tonking said, 'The system to clear blockage of equipment had obvious and inherent dangers. Also inherent was another deadly danger, the gases given off from animal waste.

'There was serious dereliction of duty which fell short of what should have been done. The attitudes towards a health and safety structure were flimsy and ineffective.

'There were several incidents, both singular and collectively, which should have urged the company to look at its health and safety, but they were ignored.'

Richard Matthews, defending, said 'The company accepts he should never have been in the situation he was, and never exposed to the dangers. Criticism of the company at the time is accepted. But the greatest mitigation is how much has changed at John Pointon.

'The change was beginning to occur before Mr Thompson's death. The expansion went quicker than the health and safety changes could catch up. There has been a massive programme of investment, just short of £4 million.'

Prosecutor Bernard Thorogood said an inspector reported there had been very little health and safety and confined spaces training.

'There should have been tests done about what toxic gases could be present,' he said. 'There was insufficient or very little thought given to safe measures of working or a health and safety policy.'

Judge Tonking said, 'Had there had been a proper health and safety culture, problems would have amounted to a wake-up call or warning. Failure to respond is an aggravating feature.'

Speaking after the sentence, DC Chris Short, from Staffordshire Police's major investigations department, said 'John Pointon and Sons will have to pay a very significant financial cost for breaching health and safety legislation, but more importantly, they have had to make many improvements to make their premises safer.'

Death of Terry Jupp

Maurice Marshall who works at Fort Halstead for the Defence Science Technology Laboratory, was accused of causing the death of Terry Jupp when an experiment at a Ministry of Defence site went wrong.

The Government scientist is said to have ordered Terry to mix a 10kg charge of three chemicals, as part of joint British-American tests, but failed to warn him how dangerous it was. Terry suffered horrific injuries when the mixture ignited at Newlands Battery in Shoeburyness, Essex on August 14, 2002.

The chemist received 60 to 90 per cent burns to his body and was airlifted to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford before being transferred to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital burns unit. Terry died of septicaemia from his injuries on August 20.

Following an investigation by the Ministry of Defence Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Marshall was charged over his death.

He appeared at the Old Bailey on September 2005 and pleaded not guilty to gross negligence manslaughter. His trial was due to start on 4 September 2006.

In September 2006 a new trial date was set for 16 April 2007 at the Old Bailey.

Charges against Marshall's colleague Robert Weighill, 56, from Sevenoaks, were dropped because of a lack of evidence.

In March 2007 Mr Marshall was cleared at the Old Bailey of Terry's manslaughter.

Explaining the decision to drop the charges, Gareth Patterson, prosecuting said, 'Things have recently changed. Further information has recently come into the possession of the Crown Prosecution Service.

'That information involves further evidence involving the results of a series of tests carried out by one of the prosecution witnesses.'

Writing in the Observer on 18 March 2007 Antony Barnett said that it was understood Terry was involved in research looking at the composition of home-made fertiliser bombs used by Islamic terrorists.

Antony Barnett added that sources believe that both the United States and British military authorities were concerned that, should the criminal case continue, highly sensitive information could have been released on the nature of the experiments being conducted.

A CPS spokeswoman confirmed that the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, was involved in the decision not to continue with the case. But she added: 'The decision was taken by CPS lawyers based on new evidence that came to light. The decision not to continue the case was not down to a public interest argument.'

An HSE spokesman said, 'The expectation is the file will now be sent to HSE for us to review the evidence.'

The MoD has Crown immunity so cannot be prosecuted under health and safety legislation, although individual members of staff can be.

The HSE could call the MoD to a Crown censure hearing, if it felt its procedures were at fault.

In March 2008, nearly six years after Terry's death, there still had been no inquest, as the Coroner waited for the MoD to disclose information about the incident.

The Guardian newspaper reported, 'It has established that Terry was a member of a small team of British and US scientists making bombs from ingredients of the sort that terrorists could obtain. There is also evidence pointing to experiments to discover more about radiological dispersal devices - so-called dirty bombs - which use conventional explosives to scatter radioactive material.

'But such a project would have been controversial as the open-air experiment that ended in Jupp's death was conducted at a weapons testing centre on an island in the Thames estuary 10 miles from Southend, Essex.

'Meanwhile, the scientist's family despair of discovering what happened. "I feel these people high up want it swept under the carpet," said Jupp's mother Anne. "The death of one man is nothing to upset them too much, I suppose. But it does upset us."'

Death of Derek Thorburn

Michael Griffin, managing director of Constructional & Vehicle Welders Ltd was summonsed to appear before magistrates in connection with a fatal explosion back in 2004. Derek Thorburn, 54, from Laindon, was attending to a petrol tanker at an industrial unit at Sandy Lane in West Thurrock when the explosion occurred.

Mr Griffin faced one count of manslaughter and one count of breaching safety laws. The company was also charged with S2 and S3 charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

In February 2007 at Basildon Crown Court the manslaughter charge was dismissed by the judge. However Constructional Vehicle Welders Ltd was fined £5,000, with £20,000 costs, for beaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Michael Griffin was fined £10,000 for breaching Section 37(1) of the same act.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) commented that they were satisfied that there had been convictions for health and safety against both the company and Mr Griffin in his personal capacity as managing director.

The HSE also issued a warning about the dangers of work in confined spaces: 'The HSE wishes to make it clear that we expect the risks associated with this type of work to be properly managed in accordance with published guidance, whatever the size of the company. We will continue to take action against those who flout the law and put people's lives at risk.'

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