Suspended sentence for builder who gassed laundrette boss

A builder who gassed a laundrette manager to death during an ‘on the cheap’ conversion project was spared jail today (tues).

Mohammed Butt, 63, was found slumped on the floor at Taniya Dry Cleaners in Wandsworth, southwest London, on 5 October 2013.

Keith Morris, 66, had been hired to convert the two floors above the business at (198) Wandsworth Road into flats when Mr Butt’s body was discovered.

He sawed down a ventilation flue which became blocked with rubble during the building works.

Morris ran 6699 Ltd, which had been hired for the job by the building’s owner, his co-defendant 58-year-old Caroline Whalley.

A post-mortem found Mr Butt’s carbon monoxide levels were at 46 per cent – anything above 5 per cent is dangerous, while levels above 50 per cent are usually fatal.

The source of the carbon monoxide was the blocked flue of a steam generating boiler he used to press clothes.

Morris had sawn off the top of the flue in order to erect scaffolding around it, but had not left a space between the boards and the pipe for the toxic gas to escape.

He had also allowed it to become blocked with rubble during the course of the works.

The builder returned to the scene after Mr Butt’s death to further saw down the flue to hide his wrongdoing from health and safety investigators.

The builder denied manslaughter and initially denied failure to discharge a duty as an employee to ensure the welfare of others.

But he pleaded guilty to failing to discharge a duty two weeks into the trial, while the charge of manslaughter was dropped when the crown offered no evidence.

His employers, 6699 Ltd, pleaded guilty to failing to plan, manage and monitor the work to ensure the welfare of others before trial.

The company had a turnover of £1.148 million in 2014, the Old Bailey heard, and its two directors, brothers Brian and Jack Crainey, were seated in the well of the court.

It previously received an intervention from the Health and Safety Executive for poor practice on a project in 2012.

Whalley was acquitted of failing to make arrangements for the management of construction work after the prosecution offered no evidence against her.

During the trial it emerged that although she owned the property, her brother Christopher had organised all the building work, and even paid the £300,000 bill from his own account.

Christopher Whalley, who had 25 years experience as a property developer, terminated Mr Butt’s 20-year tenancy in September 2013, but instructed 6699 to start work despite the fact he was still on the premises.

Judge Richard Hone said: ‘Mr Butt’s death was caused by acts or omissions by these two defendants.

‘This conversion had all the hallmarks of being done on the cheap and with the focus being on cutting corners in respect of the health and safety of people may have been affected.’

He said no health and safety plan had been put in place, and the company did not hire a specific health and safety coordinator.

Judge Hone added: ‘It appears to have been Christopher Whalley who gave the instruction for work to start while Mr Butt was still on the premises, and there’s some evidence to suggest that this was motivated by the hope the disruption to his business caused by the work might encourage him to vacate sooner rather than later.’

Handing Morris an eight month jail term suspended for two years and ordering him to complete 200 hours unpaid work, he said: ‘I accept that in cutting the pipe you didn’t know it was in use but equally you didn’t take steps to find out.’

He could simply have asked Mr Butt, as the two men were in good terms, the judge added.

Sentencing of 6699 was adjourned until 28 July to give the company time to hand over more detailed information about its finances.

On the day of his death, a customer became concerned about Mr Butt when he did not come to greet them at the counter as usual.

She rang the police when he still had not emerged from the back of the shop a few hours later and the door was still open.

He was found slumped against a wall shortly after 5pm.

The air was so toxic, emergency crews were forced to try and resuscitate him on the pavement because they too were being gassed.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 5.51pm.

A first call operative with Southern Gas Networks sent to inspect the premises after Mr Butt’s body was discovered and noticed scaffolding had been erected over the top of the flue.

Boards placed directly over the mouth and the top of the flue had been cut down by 18 inches.

It had also become blocked with rubble over the course of the works.

Morris cut down the pipe to fit the scaffolding around the building and made no effort to stop the pipe becoming blocked.

When an office from the Health and Safety Executive came to inspect the building two days after Mr Butt’s death, the Mr Morris had cut down the flue had been cut down further.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said: ‘It follows that he must have appreciated that there was no gap between the top of the flue and the scaffolding until that time and that he was responsible therefore for a state of affairs that had created a real risk of harm to Mohammed Butt.

‘His return, in effect, is clear acknowledgement of his grossly negligent conduct in relation to the flue.’

Morris admitted cutting down the flue, but said he believed it was no longer in use.

Pavlos Panay for Morris, said: ‘The fault in his case was not actually asking at all – he believed the pipe was derelict, unused.

‘He’s not a man who’s striking his own path against the opinions of all other professionals.’

In a victim impact statement that she read herself, Mr Butt’s daughter Aneeqa Saleem said: ‘My father was a proud man, short in stature and dare I say it, a little cantankerous.

‘He worked his socks off to provide for me though out my life.’

She told the court that her father had come to the UK from Pakistan at the age of 16 with next to no education, but had gone on to start his own business.

She continued: ‘He was always putting other people and was always surrounded by his friends, and was only ever a phone call away.’

Ms Saleem, who is pregnant, told the court that she had promised her dad he would be allowed to name her second child following the birth of her daughter.

Speaking to Morris and the Crainey brothers, she said: ‘I don’t hate any of you and we all wish we could turn back the clock.

‘I just want someone to say “we made a terrible mistake”.’

Mr Atkinson said that 6699 had not put a specific health and safety plan on the project.

The firm had also failed to hire a construction design and management (CDM) Coordinator to oversee the work.

CDM Coordinators are required on projects expected to last longer that 30 days.

Morris, of Ackland House, Beckenham, south London, admitted failure to discharge a duty as an employee to ensure the welfare of others.

The company 6699 which is registered to Ravenbury Avenue, in Morden, southwest London, admitted failing to plan, manage and monitor the work to ensure the welfare of others.

The company is due back in court on 28 July for sentence.

Whalley, of Maidensworth Farm, Rape Close Lane in Gilling East, near Ampleforth, north Yorkshire, was cleared of failing to make arrangements for the management of construction work to ensure it can be carried out without risk to health and safety.