Aristocrat’s firm fined £120k after teen killed by fumes
A COMPANY owned by a Scots aristocrat and his heir has been fined £120,000 over an incident in which a student died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Thomas Hill was overcome by the gas while at a cottage owned by the Earl and Countess of Dalhousie and their son, Lord Ramsay.
The 18-year-old Stirling University student was found unconscious next to a faulty heater, and died in the ambulance while being taken to hospital.
He had been on holiday with his girlfriend, Charlotte Beard, and her family at the time of the tragedy in 2015.
Lord Ramsay did not attend Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday – after testing positive for Covid – to hear his Dalhousie Estate-based farm company being fined
‘Heater should never have been there at all’
for exposing holidaymakers to the risk of injury or death from poisoning.
Retired teacher Piers Le Cheminant, who sublet the cottage to others, was also fined £2,000 after a court heard carbon monoxide could have killed visitors over a period of more than seven years.
Burghill Farms and Le Cheminant, 76, of Newton Abbot, Devon, admitted exposing people to the risk of death at Glenmark Cottage, Tarfside, near Edzell, Angus.
They admitted that between March 2008 and October 2015 they failed to ensure gas cabinet heaters were maintained in a safe condition to prevent the risk of injury to holiday residents.
They also admitted heaters were in rooms which were too small and not well-enough ventilated, and were not sufficiently maintained. Sheriff Gillian Wade said: ‘The heater in the bathroom should never have been there at all. ‘For a period of sevenand-a-half years, people using the cottage were exposed to risk.’ Fiscal depute Gavin Callaghan told the court: ‘On October 28, Mr Hill went to take a bath. An hour after he went to have his bath, Miss Beard went to check he was okay.
‘Receiving no response, entry to the room was ultimately forced, whereupon Mr Hill was found.’
Mr Callaghan described ‘extensive efforts’ to revive Mr Hill who was pronounced dead on the way to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
Mr Callaghan said an investigation found cracks in the heater and that it was producing carbon monoxide above safe levels – ‘neither Burghill Farms nor Mr Le Cheminant had a pro-active system of maintenance’.
Following the hearing, Mr Hill’s parents Jerry, 59, and Alison, 55, criticised the time taken to bring the prosecution after the court heard it was six years to the day since the death of their son, from Stoney Cross, Hampshire.
Mr Hill said: ‘It has taken a third of his life to investigate and bring it to court.
‘We are looking forward to the fatal accident inquiry so we can make sure this never happens again. Tom was loved by his whole family. It’s been devastating.’
A statement issued by Lord Ramsay after the hearing said: ‘We offer our deepest condolences to Thomas Hill’s family and friends and, in response to a family request, donations have been made to charities.’