Construction managers sentenced after death of lawyer

The manager of a construction site at which a lawyer, Amanda Telfer, was crushed by falling window frames has been sentenced.

Mrs Telfer, 43, a passer by, was hit by three falling window frames weighing around 600kg as she was walking past a construction site in Hanover Square, London, in August 2012.

Staff from Leeds-based Drawn Metal, alongside IS Europe in Slough and Westgreen Construction in Surrey, were summoned to court over the incident.

Now, building manager Kelvin Adsett, 64, has been found responsible for the placement of the frames and failure to secure them. He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment last week at the Central Criminal Court after being found guilty of manslaughter.

IS Europe Ltd, the company which employed Adsett, was found guilty of health and safety charges. It would have been fined £100,000 in the sentencing but it had only £250 left in its bank account after falling dormant.

Damian Lakin-Hall, 50, was the site manager employed by Westgreen Construction. He was sentenced to a six month prison sentence suspended for two years after he was found guilty of failing to take reasonable care for health and safety.

Claire Gordon, 35, from Ashby Crescent, Leeds, was also summonsed for manslaughter by gross negligence along with a health and safety offence, but was cleared of all charges after an eight-week trial. The prosecution had alleged that Gordon had failed to take steps to ensure the frames were transported, secured and stored safely. The jury rejected the assertions against her in unanimous not guilty verdicts after three and a half days of deliberations.

Graham Partridge, London CPS reviewing lawyer, said: “If Kelvin Adsett, Damian Lakin-Hall and IS Europe had complied with their legal responsibilities, Amanda Telfer would not have died.

“They were delivering and storing large, very heavy window frames and should have known that, unsecured, they presented a serious danger to the public on what was a windy day.

“The CPS case was that the defendants’ conduct was so bad that those involved bore criminal responsibility for Ms Telfer’s tragic death.

“We hope that these convictions will bring some sense of justice for her family.”

Architectural metalwork firm Drawn Metal was founded in Leeds in 1924 and has worked on high-profile projects including London’s O2 Arena and Trinity Leeds.