Bargaining over Corporate Manslaughter—What Price a Life?
| Date | 01 February 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1350/jcla.2013.77.1.816 |
| Author | Mick Woodley |
| Published date | 01 February 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Comment |
COMMENT
Bargaining over Corporate Manslaughter—
What Price a Life?
Mick Woodley*
Keywords Corporate manslaughter; Gross negligence manslaughter;
Role of prosecuting authorities; Sentencing guidelines; Level of fines
There have now been three reported decisions on the Corporate Man-
slaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and we are no clearer about
its potential impact than we were in April 2008 when the Act came into
force.1Or are we? From the most recent decision, Rv Lion Steel Equip-
ment Ltd, heard in Manchester Crown Court before Judge Gilbart QC, we
can at least glean some idea about how future cases might be handled
and how defence teams might react.2There are also some possibly
worrying clues about how courts will approach the imposition of
fines.
Lion Steel Equipment Ltd (LSEL) manufactures lockers at two fac-
tories, one located in Hyde in Greater Manchester and the other 50 miles
away near Chester. It had undergone a management buyout in 1998
and employs about 150 employees, with an annual turnover of £10
million and profits before tax of between £187,000 and £317,000. It had
at the relevant time three directors, Williams (W) who ran the Chester
site, Coupe (C) the Finance Director based at Hyde and Palliser (P) who
was works manager at Hyde. Steven Berry was employed as main-
tenance worker at Hyde. He was killed in May 2008 when he fell
through the factory roof whilst carrying out repair work on the roof. He
had not been provided with walking boards for use on a fragile roof or
safety line and harness, and he had received no relevant training.3The
judge concluded that ‘the system adopted for repairs was inadequate’
and failed to comply with Health and Safety Executive guidance and
* Associate Dean, School of Law, Northumbria University; e-mail:
mick.woodley@northumbria.ac.uk.
1 For an analysis of the provisions of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate
Homicide Act 2007, see S. Griffin, ‘Corporate Manslaughter: A Radical Reform?’
(2007) 71 JCL 151; D. Ormerod and N. Taylor ‘The Corporate Manslaughter and
Corporate Homicide Act 2007’ [2008] Crim LR 589.
2Rv Lion Steel Equipment Ltd, 20 July 2012, sentencing remarks of His Honour Judge
Gilbart QC, Honorary Recorder of Manchester, available at http://www.judiciary.gov.
uk/media/judgments/2012/r-v-steel-equip-ltd-sentencing-remarks, accessed 11 December
2012.
3 Work at Height Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No.735), as amended.
33The Journal of Criminal Law (2013) 77 JCL 33–40
doi:10.1350/jcla.2013.77.1.816
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