News Criminal Regulatory 12th Jan 2017

Alex Tampakopoulos Successfully Represents Property Development Company at Newton Hearing

Alex Tampakopoulos has successfully represented a property development company at a sentencing hearing following guilty pleas to three health and safety offences arising from an incident involving an employee sustaining serious injuries whilst using a table saw.

It was alleged by the prosecution that safety concerns had previously been raised by the employee but ignored. An allegation strongly contested. Under the Definitive Sentencing Guidelines for Health and Safety Offences (effective from 1st February 2016) ignoring concerns previously raised by an employee/s or others is a serious aggravating factor which increases the level of culpability of a defendant company to High. These allegations were successfully contested during a Newton Hearing.

The Prosecution further sought to argue that the company’s turnover was in the region of over £5 million, taking into account all of its subsidiaries, and therefore rendered it a ‘Small’ company attracting a starting point fine of £24,000 moving up to £100,000.

These arguments were effectively challenged and the company was found to fall into the ‘Micro’ category.

At the outset of the sentencing hearing the company faced a potential fine range of £24,000 to £210,000 (with a starting point of £54,000). Following mitigation, the company was fined a total of £12,000.

Alex Tampakopoulos was instructed by Sally Hancock and Nick Gianferrari of BLM.


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