He said the men’s deaths had been a “disaster waiting to happen”.Īddressing Stocker, he said: “It’s clear you have suffered since that day from depression and to say you have suffered remorse is an understatement.”Īkenhead provided a series of suggestions for the fruit-packing industry to adopt to prevent further deaths, which included the phasing out of hatches on the roofs of “controlled atmosphere units”, which he said should be kept locked with explicit signage warning of the danger of death. Jailing him for two and a half years, Mr Justice Akenhead said Stocker’s offences had been aggravated by the fact that two men had died and he had been “reckless” by ignoring clear guidelines that no one should enter the storage units, which only had 1% oxygen. The charges relate to failing to provide adequate emergency plans and carrying out insufficient risk assessments but the court heard these did not cause the deaths and steps had since been taken to rectify the breaches. Winchester crown court heard the accepted practice in the industry for gathering samples was to use a net to hook out the fruit but this method was not suitable for selecting the very best apples for competitions.īlackmoor Estate Ltd in Liss, Hampshire, owned by the Tory peer Lord Selborne, was also fined £75,000 with £30,000 costs after entering guilty pleas to three counts of contravening regulations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Scott Cain, 23, and Ashley Clarke, 24, collapsed after entering the oxygen-deprived unit through a hatch, holding their breath while balancing on stacks of crates and attempting to collect the best specimens for the prestigious fruit show.Ī jury found Andrew Stocker, 57, guilty of causing the deaths of the young men by ignoring health and safety regulations through encouraging staff to use the risky practice, called “scuba diving”. A fruit farm manager has been jailed for the manslaughter of two workers who died after climbing into a sealed storage unit to collect the best apples for a competition.
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