Corporate manslaughter conviction is a first

A Gloucestershire company has become the first in the country to be convicted under new corporate manslaughter legislation.

Then ruling follows the death of a young geologist Alexander Wright who sustained fatal injuries whilst working in a pit when it collapsed in September 2008.

The firm, Cotswold Geotechnical (Holdings) denied the charge of corporate manslaughter. However it is the first company to be prosecuted under the Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Prosecutor, Mark Ellison QC, told the jury that Mr Wright, who had worked with the firm for two years was alone at the site when the cave-in occurred. He told the jury that the substantial cause of death was the failure of the company to manage its affairs so as to comply with its legal duty to ensure that employees’ health was not put at risk.

The firm now faces an unlimited fine.

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