Cases involving convictions of companies, directors and business owners after 2000

Name of Deceased	Date of Deaths	Conviction Date	Convicted Defendants	Status	Sentence
- Steven Law - Neil Owen - Benjamin Kwapong	Feb 2002	Dec 2004	Melvyn Spree	Director	7 years
			Keymark Services	Company
Ben Pinkham	Feb 2003	Jul 2004	Nationwide Heating Services Ltd	Company	£90,000 (including H+S offences)
			Alan James Mark	Director	One year imprisonment
Shaun Cooper	Sept 2001	Dec 2003	Peter Pell	Business Owner	One year imprisonment
Ghulam Sarwar + Mumtaz Hussain	Aug 1999	Jun 2003	Ian Morris	Business Owner	9 months imprisonment
Christopher Longrigg	Apr 2000	24 Feb 2003	Teglgaard Hardwood (UK) Ltd	Company	£25,000
			William Horner	Director	Not Guilty
			John Horner	Director	5 month prison sentence - suspended for two years
Stephen Hayfield	Nov 2000	Oct 2002	Dennis Clothier and Sons:	Company	£4,000
			Julian Clothier	Director	240 hrs community Service
Bill Larkman	Jun 1999	Aug 2001	English Brothers Ltd	Company	£25,000
Lee James Smith	Nov 1999	July 2001	Edward Crow	Farm Owner	1 year (suspended)
			Alistair Crow	Farm Owner	15 months imprisonment
John Speight	Feb 1998	Mar 2000	Roger Jackson	Director	1 year (suspended)

Deaths of Steven Law, Neil Owen, and Benjamin Kwapong
Melvyn Spree, 47, from Sheerness, in Kent, admitted the manslaughter and unlawful killing of Mr Owen and Mr Kwapong. Keymark Services pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the two men. The crash on the M1 in Northamptonshire happened on 27 February 2002 when lorry driver Steven Law - who worked for Keymark Services - fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into seven vehicles. Northampton Crown Court heard how lorry drivers were told to falsify records so they could work longer hours. It also heard how working practices at the haulage company were "an accident waiting to happen". Sir Derek Spencer QC, prosecuting, said: "Drivers drove as long as they could, failing to take daily rests and weekly rests. "The result was that there was a risk that any of them at any time might fall asleep at the wheel.

Drivers also regularly kept false records of working hours so it appeared they were complying with the law. At the time of the collision, Mr Law's tachograph actually showed his truck at rest at Keymark's depot on the Isle of Sheppey.
Following a police investigation all of the company's 10 full-time drivers were prosecuted - they were fined for a total of 400 different offences of breaching driving regulations and falsifying vehicle records. Three other part-time drivers received official cautions.

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Death of Ben Pinkham
Ben suffered 90% burns following an explosion at Princess Yachts International on 3 February 2003.

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Death of Shaun Cooper
Peter Pell pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Shaun Cooper, aged 27, who was crushed to death after he was trapped in equipment in a poultry shed in a farm in Wysall Nottinghamshire. Mr Cooper was the second employee working for Mr Pell's poultry shed cleaning company to die in less than six years. A judge at Nottingham Crown Court heard the 62-year-old bought the skid steer loader in 1994 and within days had pulled out the safety mechanisms designed to protect the operator. Prosecutor Stuart Rafferty said: "He (Pell) removed every conceivable safety feature. … He knew perfectly well that he should not have removed those features, not least because this vehicle is provided with both a video and a detailed manual which make it abundantly plain." Mr Justice Morland said: "This was a case of a flagrant disregard for the safety of your employees, utter recklessness. And but for the fact that you are 62 years of age and in a very poor state of health, it would have been my duty to have passed a prison sentence of some years in length. The death of Mr Cooper at the age of 27, just days before he was to have been married, leaving three young children fatherless was a tragedy that never, never should have happened."

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Death of Ghulam Sarwar and Mumtaz Hussain
Ian Morris, a sole trader who owned the the paint stripping business, Eng Industrial Services, was convicted of the manslaughter of Ghulam Sarwar and Mumtaz Hussain who died after being overcome by dychlormethane chemical fumes which had escaped from the processing area. Mr Hussain, 40, from Birmingham was an experienced worker at the factory. His nephew Mr Sarwar had been working at the factory for just 2 days.

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Death of Christopher Longrigg in April 2000
On 25th February 2003, Teglgaard Hardwood (UK) Ltd and one of its directors, John Horner (58) pleaded guilty at Hull Crown court to the manslaughter of 18 year old labourer Christopher Longrigg who died in April 2000 when a stack of timber fell on him whilst he was working for the company at the old Dunstan’s shipyard in Hessle.

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Death of Stephen Hayfield in November 2000
In October 2002, the company, Dennis Clothier and Sons, and one of its directors, Julian Clothier were found guilty of the manslaughter of Stephen Hayfield (39) who died in November 2000 when he was hit by a 20-tonne trailer which was owned by the company. Bristol Crown Court heard that the trailer became detached from a tractor because it was dangerously loaded and the hitch mechanism connecting the trailer to the tractor was "badly worn". Mr Clothier was responsible for the maintenance on the company’s vehicles, and the court heard that he should have noticed the defect which was "obvious to the naked eye." A failsafe system was not connected at the time of the crash. In December, he was sentenced to do 240 hours community Service

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Death of Bill Larkman in June 1999
In August 2001, English Brothers Ltd, a Wisbech based construction company, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Bill Larkman, a gang foreman, who died in June 1999 when he fell over eight metres though a fragile roof to his death. The prosecution had earlier accepted a plea of ‘not guilty’ from Melvyn Hubbard, a director of the company. The Court heard that in 1997, inspectors from the HSE had seen Bill Larkman working at another English Brothers site without using the correct safety equipment, and had spoken to the company about its safety failings. However nothing was done to improve the situation. The company was fined £25,000.

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Death of Lee James Smith in November 1999
In July 2001, two farmers, Edward Crow (61) and his son Alistair Crow (32), were found guilty of the manslaughter of Lee James Smith - their 16 year old trainee - who died in November 1999 when the seven tonne JCB Potato Loader he was operating was hit by a lorry on the A49 crushing him to death. Birmingham Crown Court heard that "the JCB should not have been under the control of an untrained 16 year old with very limited experience of operating such a large, potentially dangerous piece of equipment". There was also evidence that a health and safety inspector had given instructions that Lee should not drive the JCB until he had received training. Mr Alistair Crow was jailed for 15 months whilst his father received a one year suspended sentence.

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Death of John Speight in February 1998
In March 2000, Roger Jackson (43), Director of Easy Moss Products LTD was convicted for the manslaughter of John Speight (25), a worker with special needs, who was crushed to death in February 1998 when he fell from a cage which was being lifted on a forklift truck (FLT). He received a 12 month sentence, suspended for two years. He was also convicted of two health and safety offences and fined £10,000.

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