Building site manslaughter sentence 'just'

A BUILDER whose negligence led to the death of a 15-year-old boy has failed in a challenge against his jail term at London's Court of Appeal.

Colin Charles Holtom, 65, of Meadow Way, Chelmsford, admitted the manslaughter of Adam Gosling at the Old Bailey in July 2009 and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Adam was working as a labourer for Holtom for just £25 a day when a seven-foot wall collapsed on top of him in April 2007.

The teenager, who was killed instantly, became the youngest victim of a building site accident in Britain.

At the Old Bailey, Holtom pleaded guilty on the basis that he had been told that the wall was in danger of collapsing and had failed to come from the front of the residential property, where he was working, to the back, where the accident took place.

However he denied telling Adam or his brother, Dean Gosling, to push or pull the wall.

At the Court of Appeal top judges – including England and Wales' most senior judge, Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge – were told that Holtom's sentence was "manifestly excessive".

The judges heard that Holtom's sentence was out of line with those passed in previous cases, and he had been a hard-working man of good character before the accident happened.

But Mr Justice David Clarke, who heard the case alongside Lord Judge and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, said that, although long, the sentence was "justifiably severe".

He said that Adam "should not have been employed at all", while a "striking" aggravating feature was that Holtom "didn't go to the scene when told of the danger that the wall was collapsing".

The court heard that Adam, from Latchingdon, Essex, had been working on the site in Broadgate Avenue, Hadley Wood, north London, the week before the accident, which occurred on a Monday. When he and his brother Dean, 18, returned to work after a weekend off they were told to demolish the wall, which had a large crack in it.

Soon it began leaning at a dangerous angle and Holtom – who had sub-contracted the job from another builder – was informed of what was going on but failed to supervise the demolition.

Within minutes the wall had completely caved in, and Adam was hit by falling bricks and pinned against the garden shed of a neighbouring property.

Neither of the teenagers was wearing protective clothing, although Mr Justice Clarke said that a safety helmet would not have saved Adam's life.