CPS urged to look at deaths again

A unanimous verdict of unlawful killing has been delivered at the inquest into the deaths of four workers in Ashford last year, creating the possibility of manslaughter charges being brought.

The police had investigated in April this year, interviewing David Evans, ex-chairman of the original contractor EP Wickens. Evans had been contracts director at the firm in 1969, when the building was constructed. Surrey coroner Michael Burgess has now urged the Crown Prosecution Service to take a second look into the case.

The four men, who were working for John Lay & Co (Portsmouth) on behalf of Hall & Co Builders Merchants, were refurbishing the three-storey building when it collapsed in August 1995.