AN FIRM in Oxfordshire which makes ejector seats has admitted breaching health and safety law after the death of a Red Arrows pilot.

Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham, an experienced flyer and Iraq war veteran, was fatally injured after being ejected from his Hawk T1 aircraft while on the ground at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, on November 8, 2011.

The parachute on the ejector seat did not deploy and the South African-born airman later died in hospital.

Manufacturer Martin-Baker Aircraft Ltd admitted the breach at Lincoln Crown Court over the death of the Red Arrows pilot.

The company has a base at Chalgrove Airfield, and its headquarters are in Denham, Buckinghamshire.

John Martin, statutory director of Martin-Baker Aircraft Ltd, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in connection with the 35-year-old's death.

At an inquest into his death in 2014, Central Lincolnshire coroner Stuart Fisher criticised Martin-Baker for failing to warn the RAF about safety issues.

The firm describes itself as the "world's leading manufacturer of ejection and crashworthy seats".