Fire service trio in court over Warwickshire deaths

Three fire service managers have appeared in court charged over the deaths of four firefighters who died in a warehouse blaze in 2007.



Firefighters Ian Reid, John Averis, Ashley Stephens and Darren Yates-Badley died in the warehouse blaze in Atherstone-on-Stour.

Three of the men died in the building, while the fourth died in hospital

Timothy Woodward and Paul Simmons and Adrian Ashley are charged with manslaughter by gross negligence.

Warwickshire County Council also faces a charge of failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees.

None of the defendants was required to enter a plea at Warwick Crown Court in Leamington Spa.

Station manager Timothy Woodward, 50, and watch managers Paul Simmons, 50, and Adrian Ashley, 45, all from Warwickshire, were bailed until a further hearing which is expected to take place at Stafford Crown Court.

Firefighters Ian Reid, John Averis, Ashley Stephens and Darren Yates-Badley died in the warehouse blaze in Atherstone-on-Stour in November 2007.

Fire officer Paul Simmons cleared over Atherstone deaths

A fire service officer has been found not guilty of the manslaughter of four colleagues who were killed in a blaze at a warehouse in Warwickshire.

Paul Simmons, 50, was acquitted five weeks into his trial at Stafford Crown Court on the judge's directions.

The case continues against two other men, Adrian Ashley and Timothy Woodward, who were incident commanders at the time of fire in November 2007.

They both deny manslaughter by gross negligence.

Firefighters John Averis, Ashley Stephens and Darren Yates-Badley died in the fire at the vegetable packing warehouse in Atherstone-on-Stour.

Ian Reid, 44, died later in hospital from smoke inhalation and suffocation.

The judge, Mr Justice MacDuff, directed the jury to acquit Mr Simmons of their manslaughter on Monday.

Mr Woodward, 51, from Leamington Spa, Mr Simmons, from Hampton Magna, and Mr Ashley, 45, from Nuneaton, acted as incident commanders during the fire.

The prosecution alleges that Mr Stephens, 20, Mr Yates-Badley, 24, Mr Averis, 27, and Mr Reid lost their lives needlessly after being sent into an obviously dangerous situation for no good reason.

'Thoughts with them'

In a statement, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said Mr Simmons's family were "greatly relieved".

"As a watch manager, Paul Simmons is a frontline firefighter," he said.

"He is not and never has been a senior officer, let alone a fire chief as sometimes reported.

"The threat of prosecution has been hanging over Paul since November 2007 when four of his fellow firefighters died at Atherstone-on-Stour.

"Paul Simmons and his family are greatly relieved at the not guilty verdict.

"There are also the families of those who died and our thoughts remain with them as they continue to deal with their tragic loss.

"Those families, the colleagues of those who died, and firefighters and officers across the UK want to get to the bottom of what happened on that night."

Fire officers cleared over Atherstone warehouse deaths



Two senior fire officers have been found not guilty of the manslaughter of four colleagues who died tackling a blaze at a Warwickshire warehouse.

Incident commanders Timothy Woodward, 51, and Adrian Ashley, 45, were charged after the Atherstone-on-Stour fire.

They had denied manslaughter by gross negligence at Stafford Crown Court.

Mr Woodward and Mr Ashley were acquitted of four counts of gross negligence manslaughter.

Fire service officer Paul Simmons, 50, was acquitted five weeks into his trial at Stafford Crown Court on the judge's direction.

Fire chief slams officers' charges



Warwickshire's Chief Fire Officer has reacted to the not guilty verdicts by condemning the decision to press criminal charges against three members of his brigade.

Graeme Smith - who claimed Adrian Ashley, Paul Simmons and Timothy Woodward had been "treated like common criminals" - is now calling for the Home Office and Ministry of Justice to investigate how and why the prosecution was allowed to proceed.

The fire chief, who was present in court during much of the six-week trial, said: "It is crystal clear that these cases should never have been brought to court in the first place.

"But today neither I nor any of my colleagues in the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service feel any sense of relief. Rather we feel a sense of sorrow and remembrance for the four brave firefighters who died at Atherstone-on-Stour in 2007."

Both Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Chief Fire Officers Association have serious concerns about the case. Mr Smith and both bodies will be writing to the Home Secretary and to the Justice Secretary to seek a formal investigation into the prosecution.

Voicing concern that such prosecutions may make fire commanders more risk averse, possibly impacting on the safety of the public, Mr Smith was also critical of "undue aggression" shown towards the firefighters charged with manslaughter during their time in police custody.

During two days in the custody of Warwickshire Police, Mr Simmons, Mr Ashley, and Mr Woodward had their belts and shoelaces taken away and were also held at a police station overnight between interviews.

Mr Smith said: "The police investigation into this fire took a wrong turn very early on.

"The police treated decent fire officers like common criminals. The court heard they were locked up in the cells overnight and even had their shoelaces taken away from them.

"It has taken almost five years and five million pounds of public money to construct a flimsy case against these three men and when it was presented in court it simply fell apart."