A LANDLORD whose failure to have a gas boiler serviced led to the death of an 11-year-old schoolgirl has been fined £60,000 for breaching health and safety rules.
Katie Overton died in her bed in April 2003 from carbon monoxide poisoning, after the boiler in her home started leaking the deadly gas into her bedroom.
Yesterday at Winchester Crown Court the landlord at the centre of the case, Paul Clark, was handed fines of £42,000 along with a further £18,000 in costs.
Last month the 38-year-old pleaded guilty to three charges of not having regular gas safety checks carried out on the boiler every 12 months, and a further charge of failing to maintain a boiler in a safe condition.
The sentence was little consolation for Katie’s father, 41-year-old shoe repairer Paul Overton, who said it would not bring his daughter back.
The court was told how on March 28, 2003, parents Paul and Debbie, 35, along with their children Katie, 11, Sian, then seven, and Emma, then six, had gone to bed in their Oxford Road home in Southsea as normal.
When Katie failed to get up the following morning, Paul went in and discovered her dead body.
A post-mortem revealed she had suffocated during the night from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, which a further investigation revealed had been seeping into the little girl’s bedroom from the flue leading off the boiler.
An examination of the boiler revealed the 26-year-old machine had not been serviced for seven years and was releasing CO at a rate of 12,795 parts per million of air – a fatal amount.
After a service, the same boiler discharged just two parts of CO per million of air.
The prosecution, brought by the Health and Safety Executive, told how despite repeated warnings from gas engineers that the boiler was in need of a service, Clark, of Portsmouth, had failed to take any action.
In mitigation his solicitor Simon Moger said he had not deliberately failed in his duties, but had just been disorganised.
However sentencing him, Judge Keith Cutler said: “It may stand as something of a warning to people thinking about buying to let, that becoming the landlord doesn’t mean one can stand back and just collect the rent.
“Becoming a landlord also has some very serious responsibilities attached to it, and it is because of your failings in terms of those responsibilities that this tragedy has happened.”
Speaking after the sentence, Paul Overton, from Samber Close in Lymington, said: “It really brings me no joy at all.
“We still feel the pain of Katie’s death and no fine or prison sentence can change that.
“As a family we just hope that this sentence brings home the message to other landlords that not servicing and looking after their gas boilers, and indeed their tenants in general, can have very serious implications.”
Asked what he wanted, Paul added: “We would like to see a new law that says all rented accommodation must be fitted with CO detectors.”
That’s so sad.
Thanks for sharing though – It will serve as a good reminder to some Landlords i’m sure.
Steve (YI)
“Knowledge is Power”
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