Manslaughter builder jailed for three years

A groundworks boss was jailed for three years at the Old Bailey today after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of a 15-year-old labourer.

Colin Holtom, trading as Maldon Groundworks, of Meadow Way, Latchingdon, near Chelmsford, Essex had employed teenager Adam Gosling as a casual labourer.

The court heard that Holtom was sub-contracted to Romford-based Soneca Systems Ltd to carry out a large garden landscaping and refurbishment project at an address in Hadley Wood.

The project manager for the site, Darren Fowler, was also jailed for nine months with three months suspended after pleading guilty to health and safety charges and working while disqualified from being a company manager.

The work centred around an outdoor swimming pool where the existing pool-house had been demolished exposing a 22-foot long wall which was seven-foot high and had a large crack running almost down its centre. The wall was deemed unsafe and required demolition.

On 23 April, 2007, Adam and his older brother were both working at the site. After completing some other work, Holtom told them they would now be demolishing the wall. There was no proper discussion or instruction on how the wall was to be removed before work started and Adam and his brother began demolition with no supervision.

The wall suddenly began to lean in the direction of a neighbour's garden. Adam went to speak to Holtom who apparently told them to get into the neighbour's garden and push the wall back.

As Adam did so, the wall fell towards him. His brother shouted for him to move out of the way but the wall fell, hitting a concrete garage. He called out again to Adam but there was no response. Adam had suffered a major head injury after becoming trapped against the garage.

Police, paramedics, HEMS air ambulance and the London Fire Brigade attended the scene. The emergency services managed to free Adam but he was confirmed dead at the scene.

A post mortem examination held at Hornsey mortuary on Wednesday 25 April, 2007, gave cause of death as head injuries and a fractured skull.

Fowler of Parkland Avenue, Upminster, had previously pleaded guilty to working while disqualified from being a company manager and failure to discharge a duty imposed by Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 - contrary to Sect 33 (1a) of the said Act.

Enquiries into the incident were led by the Homicide and Serious Crime Command based at Hendon in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive.

Detective Inspector Pete Basnett, of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: "Holtom left two inexperienced young workers working at a wall already deemed to be dangerous without supervising them or giving proper instructions on how the work was to be carried out. Even when Adam approached him halfway through the demolition to seek advice as the wall was beginning to move, Holtom still took no action and didn't even go to inspect the danger area.

"While Fowler was not on site he had known as early as April 18 that the wall was dangerous as proved by an email he sent to his client.

"What makes this case particularly tragic is that Adam's brother witnessed his death first-hand."

Simon Hester, the investigating inspector from the Health and Safety Executive, said: "The management and set-up of this small construction project was appalling. Adam Gosling should never have been there at all as 15 year olds have been banned from working on construction sites since 1920.

"There was a complete disregard for basic health and safety requirements – inadequate personal protective equipment, no risk assessments, no training and minimal supervision. There were no welfare facilities on site and the workers were not even covered by Employees Liability Insurance."