Hampshire company fined £80,000 over boy's death
A Romsey based company was yesterday fined for health and safety breaches that resulted in a boy's death.
The nine-year-old boy suffered fatal personal injury when his head was crushed by electric gates outside his grandparents’ flat, in Poole.
“I have an ache in my heart that never goes away. When you watch the child that you have loved, cared for, cuddled and nurtured for nine-and-half years dying in front of you, part of you dies too,” said his mother.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard the accident happened when the boy had reached in between an entrance gate and a pillar to press a button. But when the gates opened he became trapped and later died.
The court fined the Hampshire manufacturer £80,000 in professional negligence costs.The company was also ordered to pay £40,000 costs in compensation claims cost.
His family said they were relieved that after nearly four years the case has finally reached a conclusion.
Passing sentence Judge John Harrow described it as “a tragic case” that would “affect all those involved for a very long time”.
He said: “It is impossible to put a figure on a little boy’s life or put a figure on the parents’ loss. In my view the gap was one of the significant causes of the accident.”
Updated on 26/02/2010