Fire service watch manager cleared of firefighter deaths

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/21/firefighter-cleared-of-manslaughter-of-colleagues

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A fire service manager accused of the manslaughter of four firefighters killed in a warehouse blaze has been found not guilty after a judge directed a jury to acquit him.

Watch manager Paul Simmons, from Warwickshire fire and rescue service, was on trial at Stafford crown court alongside Adrian Ashley, also a watch manager, and station manager Timothy Woodward.

A court official said Mr Justice MacDuff told jurors there was no case to answer for Simmons, 50, who had faced four counts of gross negligence manslaughter.

He was charged after firefighters Ashley Stephens, Darren Yates-Badley and John Averis died in a vegetable packing plant in Atherstone-on-Stour, Warwickshire, on the evening of 2 November 2007. Ian Reid died later in hospital.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said Simmons, from Hampton Magna, Warwickshire, and his family were "greatly relieved" by the verdict.

The trial of Ashley, 45, and Woodward, 51, who both deny four counts of manslaughter, will continue.

In a statement released after the verdict, Wrack said: "As a watch manager, Paul Simmons is a frontline firefighter. He is not and never has been a senior officer, let alone a fire chief as sometimes reported.

"The threat of prosecution has been hanging over Paul since November 2007 when four of his fellow firefighters died at Atherstone-on-Stour. Paul Simmons and his family are greatly relieved at the not guilty verdict."

He added: "There are also the families of those who died and our thoughts remain with them as they continue to deal with their tragic loss.

"Those families, the colleagues of those who died, and firefighters and officers across the UK, want to get to the bottom of what happened on that night. We all need to know what happened so that lessons can be learned and we can try to ensure such tragedies are avoided in the future.

"Criminal proceedings such as these may give some answers. But no matter what happens in this case as it proceeds, some of the detail necessary to fully learn lessons and avoid future tragedies may not form part of those proceedings.

"Our concern from other firefighter deaths in recent years is that lessons are not being fully learned or addressed. And that old lessons we learned at great cost are being forgotten.

"Four firefighters died in tragic and terrible circumstances. We have a duty to the families of those who died, their colleagues and firefighters across the UK – who are still going into burning buildings – to learn lessons and to make our work as safe as it can be in the very hazardous and hostile environments that we work in."