Developer fails to pay huge £63,000 fine following death of worker on East Northants building site

A court will send bailiffs to enforce a huge fine imposed on a company found to be responsible for the death of a grounds worker.
Shane Wilkinson, who died at the Collyweston site in 2014Shane Wilkinson, who died at the Collyweston site in 2014
Shane Wilkinson, who died at the Collyweston site in 2014

Conquest Homes director Andrew Winterton was sentenced to four years in jail for corporate manslaughter following a nine-week trial in 2017.

He was found guilty of being responsible for the death of Shane Wilkinson, 33, who was killled after a trench collapsed on him at a building site in Field Close, Collyweston, on September 4, 2014.

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Mr Wilkinson had been standing next to the trench that had been incorrectly excavated by digger-driver Dean Wortley and when the trench wall collapsed, Mr Wilkinson was completely buried beneath the rubble.

The houses are now complete at Field Close in Collyweston.The houses are now complete at Field Close in Collyweston.
The houses are now complete at Field Close in Collyweston.

The court heard evidence that developer Winterton, of High Street, Collyweston, had ignored basic safety measures resulting in a conviction against him for significant and serious breaches of health and safety legislation.

Digger driver Wortley, 48, of Market Deeping was given a 12-month prison sentence and ordered to pay £20,000 towards costs.

Winterton, 54, was sentenced to four years in jail and his company Conquest Homes was ordered to pay costs of £90,500. He was ordered to serve two years in prison and two on licence.

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In November 2018 he appealed his conviction but judges threw out his appeal.

Although he has now been released from prison, his company has failed to pay £63,720 of the fine and they were ordered before magistrates in Northampton yesterday (Wednesday, November 27).

Magistrates ordered that the debt be enforced by court bailiffs.

The homes in Field Close were later sold for between £189,000 and £412,000.

Both men were convicted following a joint investigation by Northamptonshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive and the case was the first corporate manslaughter conviction in the county.