Brian Dean, convicted to 18 months in prison for manslaughter, is released and fined a nominal 拢1.
A contractor jailed for the manslaughter of a father and son was freed last week after the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction.

Brian Dean, 61, was convicted to 18 months in prison in May after the death of Michael and Carl Redgate in July 2000. The two were killed when the kiln they were demolishing in Stoke-on-Trent collapsed.

The case was seen as a landmark for the industry as it was the first successful prosecution for manslaughter against a construction employee.

Quashing the case at the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Clarke ruled that the original trial judge had given the jury inadequate direction on key elements of the two manslaughter charges.

Lord Justice Clark said: "In all the circumstances we have reached the conclusion that these defects in the summing up make these verdicts unsafe and the convictions are therefore quashed 鈥�

We have reached the clear conclusion that the jury was entitled to more assistance than it got."

The appeal court found that Dean had given direct instructions to the two men. The original trial, at Stafford Crown Court, ruled that he had not.

The father and son, 46-year-old Michael and Carl, 18, were buried under 56 tonnes of masonry when the 125 m high kiln caved in. Dean claimed that he instructed Michael Redgate to remove the kiln's brickwork before the structure's steel supports, or "buck-stays". Instead the two started taking away the buck-stays, resulting in the collapse. The accident happened two weeks into the 拢17,500 contract.

Dean, owner of B Dean Demolition and Civil Engineers, was still guilty of the lesser offence of failing to provide a safe place of work. He was fined a nominal 拢1 fine for the offence as the court ruled that a separate sentence was not appropriate.

Dean's firm employed five permanent staff and had been running for 15 years before the accident.

The job's client, Daniel Platt, was separately fined 拢125,000 in May after admitting two health and safety offences.

  • GT Railway Maintenance was fined 拢17,500 last week for breaching health and safety legislation after an investigation into electrical burns sustained by a track worker.

    Simon Rosier, from Northampton, received the burns while loosening nuts on track adjacent to a live 650 V conductor rail at Wembley on 21 May 2001. HM Rail Inspectorate, which investigated the incident, said the accident was potentially fatal.