Heating and Ventilating

 

Gas fitter jailed for manslaughter

Somerset gas fitter, Andrew Hartley, has been convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence and jailed for three years, following the death of Zoe Anderson from carbon monoxide poisoning in 2010.
He was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court yesterday (17 April), following a two-week trial earlier this year.

Mr Hartley had failed to secure a flue pipe properly following the installation of a boiler at the Bath home of Future Publishing founder, Chris Anderson, Ms Anderson's father, two weeks earlier. As a result, lethal carbon monoxide fumes leaked out of the flue pipe connected to the boiler, which was fitted in the garage, and flooded the house.

Ms Anderson was found dead by her boyfriend in the shower room on 29 December 2010.

Sentencing Mr Hartley, Judge Neil Ford QC said: 'Zoe was a young and talented woman with a fruitful life ahead of her.

'The quality of work fell below your normal standards. You knew the potential dangers of a carbon monoxide leak and leaving the flue unconnected created a clearly foreseeable risk to life and, as the jury found, amounted to criminal negligence.

'There is no prospect at all of you committing further offences, this is simply the price you must pay for an isolated but serious criminal offence.'

Mr Hartley had admitted a charge of breaching gas safety regulations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.


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18 April 2012

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