Dead teenager's family in safety plea to contractors

The family of a teenager crushed to death by a wall at a building site have made a heartfelt plea to construction bosses to make sure health and safety laws are upheld.

Adam Gosling, 15, is the youngest person on record to have been killed on a construction site when a brick wall he was helping demolish toppled over and killed him.

The teenager was working as a £25-a-day casual labourer in April 2007 at the time of his death, along with his brother Dean.

His dad Mark Gosling, was in court on Monday with his sons Dean and Carl but their mother Donna, could not bring herself to face Adam's former bosses.

Colin Holtom, trading as Maldon Groundworks, of Meadow Way, Latchingdon, near Chelmsford, Essex was jailed for three years and project manager Darren Fowler for 12 months.

Mark told the Essex Chronicle: "All we want is justice for Adam who had his life stolen from him before it started.

"We all received a life sentence that day, to never see Adam again.

"We are relieved he got a custodial sentence and it is like a 10 tonne weight has been lifted off our shoulders.

"Whatever sentence he was given it doesn't bring our son back but does give us closure.

"The man has been punished which sends a clear message to builders that you are not going to get away with lining your own pockets by cutting corners.

"Adam will never be forgotten. It would have been his 18th birthday next month, no parent should have to go through this."

He said Adam's older brother Dean, now 21, has been haunted by his brother's death, which he witnessed, and had suffered from nightmares.

He said: "He has coped remarkably well, it must have been horrifying to witness such a tragedy."

In a letter to the judge at the Old Bailey, Adam's mum Donna said: "Over the past two years I have had to watch, suffer and see all the children's pain, anger and their frustration as they wait for justice, peace and closure, to enable to rebuild their lives as best they can."

Mr Gosling praised the Metropolitan police for their persistence in the case and also the emergency services who despite their best efforts failed to revive Adam at the building site.

Tony O'Brien, National Secretary of the Construction Safety Campaign said: "This is clearly the right sentence for this crime. We must remember that Adam should not have been working there, that this incident was predictable and preventable – and that he can never be brought back."