Sentencing Updates for April 2025

The defendant operates a biomass power station. It breached its environmental permit by wrongly classifying hazardous waste as non-hazardous during its disposal at landfill. The defendant submitted an Enforcement Undertaking to the Environment Agency proposing a charitable donation to Tees Valley Wildlife Trust of £290,000.

The defendant construction company polluted a stream whilst building homes. The defendant and its subcontractor failed to prevent surface water, laden with silt and mud, from entering a tributary. It pleaded guilty to a charge relating to several illegal water discharges from its site.

Small company

£2,666.67 (credit given for early guilty plea)

The defendant packaging company illegally discharged bleach – sodium hypochlorite – into surface water drains which discharge into a river. The bleach escaped after a wooden pallet collapsed. Over 800 dead fish were counted 3kms downstream, as well as dead aquatic invertebrates, such as insects that live in water. The defendant pleaded guilty contrary to Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016.

10 Mar

Defendant 1: Small company

Defendant 2: £12.5 million

Northampton Magistrates’ Court

Defendant 1: Almost £32,000

Defendant 2: More than £43,000

Waste

Defendant 1 operated a waste site without an environmental permit. 34,000 tonnes of waste was stored at the site with large quantities of mixed waste piled over 10 metres high, becoming an eyesore for the local community. Despite repeated visits, the EA’s guidance was ignored for over two years.

Defendant 2 failed to comply with the waste duty of care by sending more than 24,000 tonnes of waste to the site between 2019 and 2021.

Variable monetary penalty of £19,777.69

The defendant has a licence to abstract water from a spring on the headwaters of a chalk stream. The water is used to supply houses, offices, gardens and farms that go to make up the estate. The licence allows the defendant to abstract up to 66.6 cubic metres of water a day, but following an investigation by the Environment Agency, it was found that between December 2022 and July 2023 the authorised licence limit had been exceeded by a total of nearly 7,500 cubic metres – around three Olympic size swimming pools worth of water. The defendant breached section 24 of the Water Resources Act 1991.

Part of a timber load fell off one of the defendant trade construction company’s lorries and into the windscreen of an oncoming car, killing the driver. Only a single strap was used on the load which did not adequately secure it, and the lashing was insufficient. The defendant admitted three offences contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act.

A blend operative’s lower arm was severed when it became entangled in a conveyor when he attempted to clear a blockage. The conveyor had been installed a few months before the incident and was prone to blockages. These needed to be cleared by pulling out a manual slide plate, removing the accumulated material and resetting a cut-off switch.

The investigation found operatives routinely cleared blockages themselves if they could be done quickly, even though they had not been adequately trained in isolation procedures. There had been no review of the risk assessment for operating the conveyor, when the new conveyor was installed. There was no system for checking that guards and safety features were in place prior to using the conveyor.

The defendant pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

A worker was crushed between an excavation bucket and a fabrication table at a shipyard. He sustained multiple rib fractures as well as internal injuries, including an abdominal wall burst. At the time of the incident, welders had been using an overhead gantry crane and a fork lift truck in tandem to rotate a large excavator bucket. The worker was crushed as he attempted to attach the chains from the overhead crane to the bucket, and a fork lift truck started the lifting operation, unaware of his position behind it.

The defendant had failed to ensure the lifting activity was properly planned by a competent person, or carried out in a safe manner. It also failed to establish a safe system of work for this activity – leading to a breakdown of communication between the multiple operators involved.

The defendant pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

A 12 year old died at the defendant’s premises whilst at a tobogganing birthday party. He was descending the main ski slope on a toboggan when it slid into the back of a member of staff who was conducting a slope walk. He fell backwards onto the boy who sadly died at the scene from head injuries.

The defendant failed to ensure the safety of its customers while they were undertaking tobogganing at the venue. It also did not have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for tobogganing activities and had not fully considered all persons likely to be on the slope during tobogganing. As a result, there was no safe system of work, information, instruction, training or supervision to manage the risk of collisions between toboggans and pedestrians.

The defendant pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Southampton Magistrates’ Court

A man was left seriously injured after he fell through a barn roof. He had been helping his friend repair a fire-damaged storage barn at the defendant farm’s property. He had been at the top of a sloped roof fixing new panels to timbers, but they weren’t strong enough to hold his weight. They gave way when he stood on them. He fell through to the hard surface about 10 metres below. The injuries he sustained were severe and resulted in an extended period in hospital.

Safety measures such as barriers, netting or access equipment were not in place. The defendant had failed to take appropriate precautions to ensure the safety of workers, and others affected by the work, when replacing the barn roof.

It pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The deceased worker was employed by the defendant construction company to carry out restoration work a church. He had been suspended from the 60 metre tall steeple of the building, sitting in a ‘bosun’s chair’ – a work positioning seat – when he fell, suffering fatal injuries. The bosun’s chair was not supported by a suitable backup system preventing falls, such as a double or twin leg lanyard fall arrest harness.

The defendant pleaded guilty to contravening Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. 

A 14 year old boy sustained life changing injuries after being hit by a car and crushed at the defendant MOT testing centre. He was with an adult, sitting down, waiting for an MOT to be conducted. The chair was situated in front of the brake rollers, however, as the MOT technician attempted to move the car in reverse, the vehicle was driven forwards off the brake rollers, crushing the child against the wall. He sustained multiple pelvis fractures.

The defendant had failed to ensure members of the public were in a safe area when vehicles were being moved. There were no protective barriers and the defendant failed to stop customers from moving out of this area into parts of the workshop where vehicles were moving.

It pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for its failure to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of those not in its employment.

The deceased farmhand was helping one of the partners at the defendant farm re-seat and inflate a large tractor tyre. As the partner inflated the inner tube within the tyre, it suddenly exploded and the catastrophic release of compressed air propelled the wheel rim into the farmhand, causing traumatic head injuries. He was taken to hospital and underwent skull and brain surgeries, but he subsequently died after a further deterioration in his condition.

The defendant had failed to properly assess and plan this work activity. It also failed to identify and put in place the measures necessary to control the risks involved when inflating large commercial tyres. The risk of an explosion was much higher because the tyre, wheel rim and inner tube were all in a poorly maintained condition. A suitable and sufficient assessment had not been made to determine whether the damaged tyre, inner tube and wheel rim were suitable to be inflated safely.

The defendant pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

A carbon monoxide leak at one of the defendant local authority’s primary schools caused a number of students and staff to feel ill with headaches and nausea. Throughout the day, several pupils were sent home and staff had to take medication to relieve symptoms. The following day, testing for a gas leak revealed high levels of carbon monoxide present in areas of the school. The building was immediately evacuated.

One of the two auxiliary gas boilers present at the site was leaking carbon monoxide into the boiler room and the school buildings. This was due to a lack of maintenance. Had the faults with the boiler been found prior to the incident through the required routine maintenance, it would have been classed as immediately dangerous in line with the Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure. This would have necessitated the disconnection of the gas boiler until the boiler was repaired for further use.

The defendant pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 35 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.

Defendant 1: Two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years. 

Defendant 2: Two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years. 

Defendant 3: 21 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years.

All have been ordered to complete 200 hours of community service. The judge also awarded £32,500 in compensation.

The three defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud. The three were key players in a large-scale so-called ‘clocking’ scam with more than two million miles wound back from 23 high mileage vehicles bought at auction then sold online across the country, purposely deceiving the unsuspecting 22 buyers to inflate the market value and boost their profits. Seized CCTV footage from premises showed Defendant 3 plugging in his laptop and tampering with the dashboards, in slang terms giving the vehicles a ‘haircut’. More than 100,000 miles were wiped from 10 of the vehicles. The largest deduction in one go was 163,000. Those cars and vans then started breaking down.

Both sentenced to 32 months imprisonment and disqualified as directors for a 10-year period.

The defendant cowboy builders cheated a pensioner out of his savings. The pensioner, who suffers from cerebral palsy is now 76 years old and had handed over his hard-earned money so that his wife and himself could have a new bedroom fitted to help them be more comfortable. Despite many attempts to discuss the matter with the defendants, no money was returned and in fact, no order for any furniture had been placed – leaving the couple, feeling cheated, depressed, and vulnerable. 
  
There were also other victims with the total cost across all victims almost £125,000.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to participating in a fraudulent business, contrary to section 993 of the Companies Act 2006 – knowingly participating in the carrying on of a business for a fraudulent purpose namely obtaining monies for goods, services and building works which they failed to provide, were substandard or incomplete.

Six-month custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months.

The defendant imported nearly 1,000 unsafe scooters, e-scooters and e-bikes, which were found to be non-compliant with UK product safety standards. Tests commissioned by the council revealed “serious safety issues” with the imported products.

He pleaded guilty to 12 offences relating to product safety failings and suspension notice breaches.

Four years imprisonment.

Subject to a £250,000 confiscation order for victim compensation. 

Disqualified from being a company director for eight years.

The defendant car company director sold an unsafe vehicle. When the customer made their first short journey in the ‘new’ car a warning light instantly appeared, after restarting the vehicle the light was no longer displayed. However later the same day the customer made another short journey where they noticed there was an issue with the vehicle as it would not drive over 30 mph, making a whirring noise and the brakes appeared slow to respond. The engine light and temperature lights came on halfway up a hill. The vehicle started to smoke, it then cut out and started to roll backwards; the customer then found that the footbrake would not stop the vehicle and so they had to apply the handbrake. The vehicle was blocking the road in rush hour and so the police were called who advised the driver to contact the defendant company. 

The defendant said for the customer to open the bonnet and push down on the two metal springs to restart the battery. It started but cut out again. The defendant then stated he would call back the following day. The customer was upset and informed the defendant they did not want to keep the car, but he ended the call.

The car was examined by an expert witness. It was found that the offside front suspension strut coil spring was fractured at the lower portion, and this would render the vehicle to be in an un-roadworthy and dangerous condition. In addition to this the defendant company failed to provide the customer with any pre contract information regarding cancellation rights which is a requirement of The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. It was also discovered that the vehicle supplied had a different mileage and engine size to that, that was advertised online. Resulting in misleading actions under The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading regulations 2008.

The defendant pleaded guilty to three charges – two of which were contrary to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.