Leading legal business DWF provided representation on behalf of the first defendant to be sentenced for charges of corporate manslaughter, post implementation of the sentencing guidelines at the Central London Criminal Court on Monday 27th June 2016.

DWF was instructed by Monavon Construction Limited which was carrying out renovation works to a flat on Hampstead Road in London. The case concerned Mr Gavin Brewer and Mr Stuart Meads who were captured on CCTV on Hampstead Road in London in the early hours of 19th October 2013, where one man is seen to push the other forcefully across the road and into the edge protection of a lightwell which collapsed. The edge protection was accepted to provide inadequate protection to the public which resulted in the tragic death of the two men.

The construction company pleaded guilty to two counts of corporate manslaughter and a breach of section 3(1) Health & Safety at Work act 1974. The Company was fined £250,000 for each of the corporate manslaughter offences together with £50,000 for the breach of Section 3(1). In addition costs were awarded in the sum of £23,000.

Nina Dhillon, senior associate and health and safety specialist at DWF, led the representation of the company and successfully argued against the prosecution contention that “profits had been placed before safety”.

DWF has extensive expertise across all areas of regulatory, including HSE/police investigations (following accidents, trading standards investigations and prosecutions), compliance with safety legislation, crisis response, internal accident investigations, interviews under caution, coroners’ inquests, prosecutions, FCA/PRA investigations and enforcement, fraud, bribery and corruption, risk management, claims defensibility, corporate manslaughter, environmental prosecution, antitrust law (EU, competition and public procurement), transport law and competition law.