Lovell to stand trial over child's death

Lovell Partnerships has been committed to stand trial following the death of a child on one of its sites.

The firm will appear at Newcastle Crown Court on December 11 after a seven year old fell from scaffolding at a three-storey block of flats near his home in Washington, Newcastle in April 2006.

At a hearing in September an inquest heard that Adam Tiffin should not have been able to access the scaffolding that lead to the roof.

Gateshead coroner Terence Carney said that lessons had to be learnt. He added: “I hope the organisations involved might identify from this death some effective and practical ways that the care of children, even if they are doing something they ought not to be, can be effectively ensured and they are protected even from themselves at all times.”

Tiffin and friends had shimmied up poles left unsealed and climbed through an opening. They used a ladder on the scaffolding to climb to the roof, from which Tiffin later fell suffering multiple injuries.

The enquiry found that Lovell site manager David Tumility had received a report before the incident saying that children had been climbing the poles. He told the enquiry that he thought removing the ladder would remove the risk. 

Lovell will now defend itself again at Newcastle Crown Court. No plea to the charge has been entered.