Manager to stand trial over Gleision mine disaster

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/16/gleision-mine-swansea-valley-wales-manslaughter-trial

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A mining manager who survived an underground flood in which four colleagues died will stand trial next year after denying their manslaughter.

Malcolm Fyfield, 57, was manager of the Gleision mine, in the Swansea Valley, at the time of the disaster in September 2011.

Philip Hill, 44, Charles Breslin, 62, David Powell, 50, and Garry Jenkins, 39, all died when they were engulfed in a half-a-million-gallon torrent of water.

Fyfield, who was underground at the time but managed to crawl to safety, was taken to hospital and recovered in intensive care.

He appeared at Swansea crown court on Monday. Looking frail and tired, he denied four charges of gross negligence manslaughter.

A legal representative for MNS Mining, which owned the drift mine at the time of the disaster, also denied four counts of corporate manslaughter.

Elwen Evans QC, for Fyfield, tried unsuccessfully to shift a trial date for the case by three weeks to a period after next Easter.

But the judge, Justice Wyn Williams, reaffirmed the provisional date of 24 March for a trial that is expected to last eight weeks.

Fyfield was released on conditional bail until a progress hearing to be fixed next year.

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