Rhos-on-Sea man sentenced for death of employee in Kinmel Bay

Stephen Jones, of Llanerch Road West in Rhos on Sea, appeared at Mold Crown Court for sentence on Friday.

READ MORE: Prestatyn man's family speak out after recycling firm boss jailed for manslaughter

The 60-year-old had previously been found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter, in relation to the death of his employee Norman Butler in November 2017.

He and his company Recycle Cymru had also been convicted of contravening Health and Safety regulations.

Summarising the details of the offence, Mr Justice Griffiths said the defendant and his company has been "entirely responsible" for the tragic death of "funny, compassionate and warm hearted" Mr Butler, from Prestatyn.

The defendant had a unit on an industrial estate in Kinmel Bay where Recycle Cymru operated a pair of compacting machines to turn paper, plastics and cardboard into bales for recycling.

Jones had a few drivers working for him, with 60-year-old Mr Butler being one of them.

The drivers collected waste, brought it onto the site and fed it into the machines by way of a conveyor belt.

It would then drop through a hopper, triggering an automatic mechanism which delivered 65 metric tonnes of force through a ram to drive the waste past a fixed blade to cut off the excess and shape the waste into a bale.

On the day of his death in 2017, Mr Butler arrived at the site, passing the defendant - who was on his way home.

He loaded the waste from his vehicle onto the conveyor - but the machine jammed. The court heard that was a regular occurrence.

He went to the top of the machine to try to clear the blockage, which was "normal practice" at the business.

But he fell and landed in the path of the ram.

The automatic sensor triggered and pushed him towards the fixed blade, which cut his foot off completely at the ankle and left him trapped and bleeding inside the machine.

He had no way of calling for help and nobody else was on site to free him, the court heard.

Mr Butler bled to death and was found at the bottom of the machine three hours later when another driver arrived to drop off his load.

The incident happened just one day after a health and safety officer had visited the site for a spot inspection, and Jones had "lied" to him about who used the machinery.

Mr Justice Griffiths said Jones had failed to ensure Mr Butler - who had only worked there for a month - knew how to safely operate the machine.

He also failed to make sure there was a safe system in place to clear blockages - including cutting power to the machine during the clearing process.

The company had paperwork to set out how such a process should be done, but that was "just for show," the Judge said.

Mold Crown Court (Image: Staff)

Despite having Health and Safety Executive guidance in his office which stated "clearing blockages is the single biggest killer in the industry," there was no safe means for employees to carry out the task - with a rope simply hanging over the machine that people used at times to hang from while they jumped on the debris on the hopper.

The defendant also failed to ensure Mr Butler had not worked alone, or without supervision.

"You showed a criminal disregard for his life and limb," the Judge told him.

"The responsibility for his untimely and unnecessary death falls on you.

"You showed blatant disregard for the high risk of death to your workers.

"I am also satisfied that you cut corners on safety because you were motivated by financial gain.

"You wanted the business to run as quickly and as easily as possible - a safe system would have slowed things down.

"This was not a one off accident or a temporary risk - it was an accident waiting to happen and it could have happened to anyone.

"The picture painted by the evidence at trial was of lethal machinery primed and ready to kill, and a complete disregard on your part for any real training or adequate procedure to protect any of your employees from harm."

The court also heard statements from Mr Butler's daughter Jessica Williams and brother Joseph Butler.

In her statement Ms Williams said the incident "broke" her and the fact her father will no longer be a part of his grandchildren's lives causes her great pain.

She said his death had "completely changed" her as a person, adding that the "horrific incident will always haunt" her.

Joseph Butler said he will never get over the tragic incident and that after attending some parts of the trial he felt "real anger" about how the death could have been prevented.

The Judge said he was certain significant mental and physical suffering was caused to Mr Butler, who bled to death in "full knowledge of what was happening," as the machinery carried out its 26 second operational cycle.

Richard Thyne, defending, said: "I can't dispute there would have been suffering here. It would have been, one would hope, short lived rather than prolonged over days. I can say no more than that."

He added the company's employees have been paid up to last week and have been offered help by the Government with regard to their redundancy pay.

In mitigation, the Judge accepted the defendant is a family man who has no previous convictions; and no health and safety enforcement action was taken against him before this incident.

There had also been a delay in bringing the case to court, which was not his fault, Mr Justice Griffiths said.

The Crown Prosecution service had initially decided not to charge him for the offence, but following an appeal from the victim's family, that was overturned.

Jones was jailed for nine years and ordered to pay costs of £3,500. He was disqualified from serving as a company director for nine years.

The company, which went into voluntary liquidation this week, was fined £120,000.