Manslaughter verdict for window
frame death
March 2017

A site manager has been found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence after three window frames weighing over half a ton fell and killed a passer-by.

Lawyer Amanda Telfer, 43, was crushed to death on 30 August 2012 in Hanover Square, Mayfair when the large unsecured frames toppled over.

Kelvin Adsett, 64 of Slough, the on-site project manager for IS Europe Ltd, was convicted at the Old Bailey on Thursday of manslaughter by gross negligence. A second worker, Damian Lakin-Hall, 50 of Cobham, Surrey was acquitted of manslaughter but both were convicted of offences contrary to Section 7a of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Both were bailed to appear at the same court for sentencing on 5 May.

IS Europe Ltd of Slough was convicted of offences under Section 2 and 3 of the same act.

The convictions follow an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Homicide and Major Crime Command with the assistance of the Health and Safety Executive.

Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Chalmers said: "The individuals and company who were convicted in this tragic case had a laissez-faire attitude to health and safety and did not take their obligations seriously. Each had a responsibility for the safety of the construction site but failed to deal with a basic task that very obviously then presented a serious hazard.
"Amanda died four-and-a-half years ago and this has been an incredibly long and complex case to bring before the courts with many many hours of enquiries carried out by my team.

"Her death was completely avoidable and it is satisfying for all involved in this case - and especially Amanda's family - that the jury have convicted these people and companies today.

"Prosecutions such as this are so important in enforcing adherence to health and safety laws. This tragic case proves just why employers and employees should take their obligations to safeguard workers and the public seriously."

The court had heard how the three unglazed window frames – one around 3.2m square and two approximately 3.3m x 1.8m – had been left on the pavement overnight, leaning against the building. No efforts were made to secure them and no barrier placed around them. No checks were made on them when the individual defendants arrived on site the next morning.

As Amanda walked past, it is believed a door in the building blew open in the wind, hitting the frames and causing them to topple. A worker inside tried to grab them but they fell, crushing Amanda underneath.

Several members of the public came to help and together they managed to lift the frames off Amanda. However, she was unconscious and not breathing. Police, the London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance attended but she died at 11:57hrs.

Lakin-Hall told officers at the scene the frames had been secured to the wall with a ratchet strap – evidence showed that had never been the case.

Barry and Ann Telfer, Amanda's parents, said:

"The frames had been left standing, almost vertically, at the side of a public pavement, unsecured to anything, unattended and with no safety barriers around them.

"If construction companies and the people who work for them are not held to account for such high levels of negligence and incompetence then none of us is safe walking the streets next to construction sites. The Health and Safety training being given is totally inadequate, if risk of death to passers-by is ignored.

"We don't want retribution for our loss of Amanda, though we will never recover from it. We want accountability established, responsibility acknowledged. Her death was avoidable. She was killed by two half-ton window frames which had been left standing at the side of a busy public pavement unsecured, unbalanced and unattended with no safety barriers round them. The risk to passers-by is obvious. Yet the risk was ignored and our daughter, a bright, beautiful woman with so much to live for, so much she wanted to do with her life, was killed."