Boy ‘might have choked on his gum’, accused told his boss

A MAN accused of causing the death of a teenager at an industrial yard told his boss the boy ‘might have choked on chewing gum’, a court heard yesterday.

Dean Reynolds, 23, denies ‘culpably and recklessly’ operating a spooler – a rotating wheel used to wind subsea cables – while Michael McLean, 17, was inside the drum.

He faces an alternative charge of breaching health and safety regulations, and a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by discarding two pairs of work boots.

Michael was injured and later died on the final day of his summer work experience. He was

‘Started giving him CPR’

found unconscious in a paint shed at Denholm MacNamee – an oilfield services firm in Aberdeenshire – on August 14, 2015, the High Court in Aberdeen heard.

Michael’s father, Mark McLean, also worked for the firm, which was painting the spooler.

Managing director Brian Ritchie, 49, told the court: ‘Obviously Mikey had been removed from the spooler.

‘Mikey’s dad came running out and started giving him CPR. He was lying on his back.

‘You could tell instantly he was either dead or dying.’

Reynolds, from Keith, Banffshire, raised the alarm. Mr Ritchie said: ‘He said Mikey was always chewing gum so he might have choked on it.’

The court also heard that safety boots were later found in a rubbish skip after Reynolds volunteered to clear out the locker room. He never returned to work after that day.

The trial before Lord Beckett continues.