Sentencing Remarks: CMBC Supply Limited
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 29 June 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Sentencing Remarks |
| Court | Crown Court |
The Queen
-v-
CMBC SUPPLY LIMITED
(formerly CARLSBERG SUPPLY COMPANY UK LIMITED)
Sentencing Remarks of Mr Justice Picken
Birmingham Crown Court
29 June 2022
1. This case arises out of a fatal incident which occurred at the Defendant’s brewery in
Northampton on 9 November 2016. Just after noon that day, there was a release of
anhydrous ammonia gas in the refrigeration plant at the brewery. As a result, one person
died, David Chandler, and a second, David Beak, sustained serious injury; twenty others
required medical assistance.
2. The Defendant, CMB Supply Ltd (formerly Carlsberg Supply Company UK Ltd)
(‘Carlsberg’) was subsequently charged with three offences, each covered by a separate
summons: the first two (alleging breaches of ss. 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work
etc Act 1974) directly concern the lead-up to, and the events of, 9 November 2016, the
second of the summonses relating specifically to Mr Chandler and Mr Beak, who were not
Carlsberg employees; the third relates to more generic failures under Regulation 3(1) of the
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 concerned with Carlsberg’s
failure to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment in relation to its activities at the
brewery.
3. Carlsberg entered guilty pleas to all three offences on 6 March 2020 at the first hearing
before Birmingham City Magistrates Court.
4. I must now deal with the matter of sentence.
5. The reason for the delay in doing so is that it was only earlier this year that the decision
was ultimately taken not to proceed with the prosecution of another defendant, Crowley
Carbon UK Limited (‘Crowley Carbon’), after that company ceased to exist.
6. I wish at the outset to say something about Mr Chandler and then Mr Beak, having had
the opportunity to consider the very moving victim impact statements which have been
made both by Mr Chandler’s wife, Laura, and his sister, Alison Bennett; as well as the
statement which Mr Beak has himself made and which has been read out today.
7. I wish to pay tribute to each of them for the dignity which they have shown in saying what
they have said.
8. Mr Chandler was a family man, a father to Ava (now 11) and to Isabella (now 7) and a
husband to Laura, who describes her husband’s death as having been the result of “awful
yet preventable circumstances” and as having “the most profound effect on our lives”. Mrs Chandler
goes on to describe her husband as “wonderful” and somebody who always strove to give
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