Family ‘still looking for answers’ after dad’s tragic death
THE grieving family of a young man crushed to death in an industrial accident have spoken out following an exhaustive, five-day inquest into what happened.
Sebastian Luke Martin, a 26-year-old, dadof-two, of Ravensthorpe, died in September 2018 following the incident at scrap metal firm, Arthur Brook Ltd in Dewsbury, where he worked as a machine operative.
Yesterday, his brother Damien Martin and mother Angie Green said: “The inquest finished on Friday, March 25, and the outcome was an accidental death conclusion.
“However, given the evidence that was heard it was made very clear that had the machine been ‘guarded’ following the correct guidelines and procedures, the tragic incident which caused Luke’s death would not have happened. The family are still searching for answers which we may never get but hopefully one day someone will be held accountable for his death.”
The jury inquest at Bradford Coroner’s Court heard a large amount of evidence from several witnesses over five days and both the Health & Safety Executive and the company involved were legally represented by counsel. Before it began, the HSE said it would consider whether there would be any prosecutions following the hearing.
The court heard that Luke had always wanted to work at the company and considered it his dream job. However, disaster struck on the morning of September 21, 2018, when he was found by colleagues trapped in the conveyor. Despite the best efforts of medics at the scene and at Leeds General Infirmary he lost his life.
In a statement his girlfriend, Kim Little, said: “There were a lot of things that went wrong at the scrapyard” and it seemed safety was not a priority.