Two years behind bars

Prosecutions and Claims |
12.12.2007

The owner of a roofing firm who tried to mislead investigators that he had issued protective equipment before a fatal accident has been jailed for two and-a-half years for manslaughter.

Steven Smith was successfully prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service after an investigation by North Wales Police found he had failed to provide workers with safety harnesses until after one of his employees was fatally injured in a 7.6-metre fall through a skylight. Smith had insisted the equipment had been supplied earlier.

Paul Alker was working for Smith's company Wrexham Roofing Services at the Comet electricals store in Wrexham when he fell through the skylight. Surgeons at Wrexham Maelor Hospital operated on his collarbone, but he died shortly after.

Police investigators, helped by the HSE, found that Smith had let Alker  on the roof without adequate training and experience to work at height and without a harness. Smith tried to persuade officers he had issued harnesses but they discovered the equipment had only been purchased after the fatal incident.

Smith was charged with gross negligence manslaughter, conspiring to pervert the course of justice and failing to protect Alker and his co-worker on the roof, Aaron Pugh, contrary to Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Smith originally signalled that he would contest the charges, but then pleaded guilty in October and was sentenced on 29 November at Mold Crown Court to two and-a-half years.