We recently reported on the trial of three Warwickshire fire
services managers charged with manslaughter by gross negligence
following the 2007 deaths of four fire-fighters.
Since our last report, one of the three individuals charged, Paul
Simmons, has since been acquitted. The Judge presiding reasoned Mr
Simmons is in fact a frontline fire-fighter who has never held a
senior officer role.
The trial is ongoing and a verdict on managers Timothy Woodward and
Adrian Ashley is awaited.
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A trial following the 2007 deaths of four fire-fighters has
commenced at Stafford Crown Court. Ian Reid, John Averis, Ashley
Stephens and Darren Yates-Badley were killed in a fire at a
vegetable packing factory at Atherstone on Stour in Warwickshire in
November 2007 after being sent into a burning building. Managers
Timothy Woodward, Paul Simmons and Adrian Ashley deny four counts
of manslaughter by gross negligence. A search operation involving
in excess of 100 fire-fighters was later carried out to recover the
four men.
The prosecution barrister, Richard Matthews QC, stated to the court
that the blaze had not been properly assessed by the officers in
charge who are required to continually review their tactics every
twenty minutes. The failure to adequately assess the situation led
to sending the fire-fighters into an unnecessarily dangerous
situation with inadequate resources despite no persons being
reported missing or unaccounted for.
Matthews further added this case was not about "what some
people see as the irritating trivialities of health and safety red
tape" but "about the needless loss of four lives, four
individuals..."
The trial is expected to continue for 10 weeks.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 23/05/2012.