The managing director of a Norfolk skip hire and waster company is to serve 12 months behind bars after a young father died when his clothing became trapped in a second-hand waste screening machine that had no external stop button.
Robert Baldwin, managing director of Baldwin Skip Hire, was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court after earlier being found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act over the death of his employee James Criddle (pictured with his daughter above) on 15 May 2017.
However, in a six day trial in March, also at Norwich Crown Court, the jury acquitted him of gross negligence manslaughter after deliberating for three and a quarter hours.
The company was fined £75,000 at last week’s sentencing hearing, after it pleaded guilty to a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
In this case, the machine used was purchased by Baldwin and put into use in an unsafe condition including missing guards resulting in the tragic consequences we have seen.
Judge Alice Robinson
