An electrical investigator described the Harold Wood pub, where a young boy died from being electrocuted, as “the most dangerous place” he had been to.
Terence Sheehan visited the King Harold, in Station Road, to assist the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation one week after schoolboy Harvey Tyrrell was killed in the beer garden.
The seven-year-old died when an electric shock “flowed through his body” as he touched a metal railing while sitting on a defective light on September 11, 2018.
FROM MONDAY: Pub owner 'drilled through cables' weeks before boy was electrocuted, court told
Giving evidence at the trial of Colin Naylor, an experienced electrician who installed the garden lights, Mr Sheehan told jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court the pub’s electrics were “very dangerous”.
Referring to the HSE report, he said: “The installation should not be re-energised until all connection faults are rectified or replaced.
“Part is being fed from an unmetered supply with no main earthing connection with it.”
An earthing system connects parts of an electric power system with the ground, typically the Earth's conductive surface, for safety purposes.
Although the switches on the fuse board, which was used to operate the garden lights, worked, it was so faulty that it was left "permanently live", the court heard.
Mr Sheehan, who has worked with electrics for more than 40 years, carried out the week-long investigation with HSE investigator Ian Truckle.
David Bearman, of Ardleigh Road in Romford, was the pub’s landlord at the time and pleaded guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence, as well as stealing electricity through the unmetered supply. He will be sentenced in due course.
His brother-in-law, electrician Colin Naylor, denies manslaughter by gross negligence, as well as a second charge of failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to take reasonable care to limit the risk or prevent the danger of serious injury or death.
Mr Naylor, 73, of Hockley Road in Rayleigh, Essex, told police during an interview that the state of the pub’s electrics had caused him to “raise his eyebrows” before he installed the lights three months before Harvey’s death.
The trial resumed today (January 28) after it was adjourned due to a juror being too ill to attend on Wednesday.
Another juror was discharged this morning on non-Covid related medical grounds and the trial will continue with the 12 remaining jurors.
The prosecution’s case, led by Duncan Penny QC, is expected to conclude this afternoon, with defence barrister Graham Trembath QC due to set out Mr Naylor’s defence on Friday.
The trial, expected to conclude in the week commencing February 8, continues.
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