‘Not guilty’ of manslaughter says Legionnaires jury

8:12am Wednesday 2nd August 2006

A LOCAL authority architect walked free from Preston Crown Court after being acquitted of manslaughter by a jury, reports James Williamson.

Barrow Borough Council architect Gillian Beckingham, of Grange-over-Sands, was cleared on seven counts of manslaughter following an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in Barrow during the summer of 2001.

However, by a majority of 11 to one, the jury convicted Beckingham of one charge of breaching health and safety law for which she was fined £15,000.

The council, which pleaded guilty to a health and safety offence last year, was fined £125,000 and ordered to pay £90,000 court costs.

The court heard that the outbreak of the disease was caused when a failure to regularly test and add appropriate chemicals to the water system at the council-owned Forum 28 arts building resulted in an increased concentration of disease-causing Legionella bacteria in the water. The deadly bacteria sprayed from the building's air conditioning unit in July 2002, leaving seven people dead and many others seriously ill.

Families of the deceased wept in the public gallery as the jury returned their verdict on Beckingham, who retained an unemotional, blank stare throughout the proceedings.

When passing sentence, Judge Stanley Burnton QC told the packed courthouse that in his judgement Beckingham's failures had been serious' and, but for the context in which they occurred with the lack of support received from, and the general ethos of disregard by the council, the general outcome may have been different.

He added that, had Beckingham been a lady of great wealth, then he would have imposed a much greater penalty as her failures led to multiple deaths and a lot of serious suffering.

Judge Burnton also said that an admission of guilt on behalf of Beckingham would have worked in her favour: "You were not able to admit those failings that were clearly established by the evidence."

When sentencing the council, Judge Burnton told the court that the outbreak of the disease was "a tragedy that should never have happened".

He added that there had been many opportunities for the council to take steps to prevent the outbreak and that failings had not only been at the lowest level of the council, but all the way to the top in terms of its serving officers.

Afterwards, the council's chief executive Tom Campbell insisted that he would not resign following the verdict.

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