Adrian Darbishire QC and Jocelyn Ledward were instructed for the Crown in the prosecution of Sterecycle (Rotherham) Limited for corporate manslaughter.
An employee, Michael Whinfrey, was killed in January 2011 a following an uncontrolled release of pressure from an autoclave, used by the Company to sterilise municipal waste. The Company, now in administration, was convicted and fined £500,000, three employees were acquitted. This was just the sixth successful prosecution for corporate manslaughter in this jurisdiction since the Act came into force in 2008. In passing sentence the learned trial judge, Mr Justice Jay, described the case as "one of the most difficult and demanding of its type that has confronted the criminal justice system”.
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