Unlawful killing cases set to increase

A dramatic rise in the number of corporate manslaught er cases heard in the UK has been predicted as a result of the new unlawful killing laws.

The warning from health and safety experts follows the recent committal to trial of Martin and Nathan Winter, operators of a fireworks depot who are accused of the manslaughter of two firefighters. Geoffrey Wicker and Brian Wembridge died tackling a blaze at the East Sussex fireworks depot in December 2006. Norman Selwyn, contributing author to Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide 2007: A Guide, says: “It is now estimated that there are likely to be about a dozen or so corporate manslaughter prosecutions each year and that the clarification of the law will more than likely lead to these being successful.” However, he criticised the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which came into effect in April, for failing to create a new offence for individual directors who control large corporations.

Gerald Forlin, a barrister at 2–3 Grays Inn Square, says: “I don’t think anybody knows how many prosecutions there are going to be under the new Act. I think what is clear is that because the law is easier to prosecute under than under the old law, there are likely to be more investigations, but whether there are more prosecutions is a different matter.”