Sentencing remarks or Mrs Justice Carr: R v Cushman & Wakefield
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 02 July 2019 |
| Court | Crown Court |
| Subject Matter | Sentencing Remarks |
1
R (on the prosecution of Wolverhampton City Council)
V
CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD DEBENHAM TIE LEUNG LIMITED
SENTENCING REMARKS OF THE HONOURABLE MRS JUSTICE CARR DBE
Introduction
On 23 February 2017 the Midlands region was experiencing a winter storm with significant winds –
part of “Storm Doris”. At 11.38am that day Ms Tahnie Martin, a young professional woman aged 29
years old and recently engaged to be married, was walking with a work colleague, Ms Raman Sarpal,
in Dudley Street next to the Mander Centre, Wolverhampton. She was struck and killed by a large
and heavy wooden panel which had been blown off the top of a plant room roof of the nearby
Blackrock building forming part of the Mander Centre since 2012 (“the building”) by the wind. Other
large wooden items had also been dislodged from the same roof and landed in the same area.
Despite the brave and sustained efforts of shocked bystanders, Ms Martin tragically died. Ms Sarpal
was also knocked to the ground and injured.
Cushman & Wakefield Debenham TIE Leung Ltd (formerly named DTZ Debenham Tie Leung Ltd)
(“the Company”) is a commercial property and real estate consultant. It had been the managing
agent for the building since September 2012. Its responsibilities included identification of the
structures and facilities making up the building as necessary for planning and risk assessment
purposes. The Company failed to identify two particular brick-built structures on top of the plant
room roof (“the plant room roof”) which was itself on top of the roof known as Level 6: namely a
former ventilation shaft with a substantial wooden louvered hood and a disused water tank topped
with a large wooden panel structure. The structures were not inspected or maintained in any way
whilst under the Company’s charge. They were omitted from maintenance plans. By 23 February
2017 the parts intended to secure the structures to the brick were entirely rotten and/or corroded.
When subjected to winds of up to 58 to 59 mph they were simply blown away, with one part
(measuring 130cm x 122 cm) ending up on the roof of the O2 building in the Mander Centre and the
other larger part (measuring 130cm x 162 cm) striking Ms Martin. An inquest jury concluded that
the panel that killed Ms Martin was blown away because of the lack of maintenance which had
resulted from wet rot and corroded defective fixings.
The Company now stands convicted on its guilty plea to an offence contrary to section 3(1) of the
conduct its undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that
members of the public were not exposed to material risk to their health and safety.
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