A STONEMASONRY firm found guilty of corporate manslaughter after one of its employees was crushed to death has been ordered to pay more than £237,000.

Bristol and Bath-based Cavendish Masonry was convicted by a jury in May this year of a gross breach of its duty of care towards 23-year-old David Evans.

The stonemason’s mate was working on a building site in Moulsford, near Wallingford, when he was killed by a falling two-tonne block of limestone on February 9, 2010.

It was to form part of a wall at the Well Barn Estate, which is owned by former Pizza Express director Hugh Osmond and was undergoing a £2m renovation.

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During the Oxford Crown Court trial prosecutor Oliver Glasgow said there had been “almost non-existent planning” before the block was lifted into place.

The family of Mr Evans said in a statement released after the verdict that his loss had been “devastating’’ and they hoped lessons would be learned from the tragedy.

Yesterday Judge Patrick Eccles QC said responsibility for the failings had to rest with the small company’s sole director, Richard Ferris.

He said: “Mr Ferris simply failed to educate himself in the relevant regulations and codes of practice designed to protect workmen from accidents such as that which caused Mr Evans’s death.’’ He added that the “obvious risks’’ involved in moving the block were not properly considered, which meant “the foreseeability of death or serious injury was high’’.

Judge Eccles said the starting point for a fine for corporate manslaughter – the only penalty in such cases – was £500,000.

But defence barrister Patrick Gibbs QC argued if the fine was too large the company would go into liquidation and none of the money would be paid.

He told Judge Eccles the company only had shareholder funds of £81,779 and was losing money because fears over its future were preventing it from receiving contracts.

Mr Gibbs said: “The reality is that we have a company that wants to carry on trading, but doesn’t have very much money and doesn’t have anything on its books because of the uncertainty. This is, apart from this appalling incident, a decent company run by a decent man. All the other work at the site carried out by Cavendish Masonry was well and competently completed.

“No employee of Cavendish Masonry has even been injured before. It has not been warned or cautioned or even advised by the Health and Safety Executive.’’ He added that Mr Ferris had stopped hiring cranes like the one involved in the accident and taken steps to retrain the supervisor who oversaw the lift.

Judge Eccles said although it did not match the gravity of the offence, it would be better to pass a smaller fine that the company had some hope of paying. He fined Cavendish Masonry £150,000, to be paid over five years, and said it must also pay £87,117.69 in costs.

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