A sheriff has fined the owners and tenant of an Angus holiday cottage where a teenage student died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Thomas Hill, 18, was killed after being exposed to the toxic gas in the bathroom of remote Glenmark Cottage, Tarfside, by Edzell, in October 2015.
The cottage is owned by Burghill Farms, a partnership which, at the time of Mr Hill’s death, was run by the Earl and Countess of Dalhousie with their son Simon Ramsay, Lord Ramsay.
The property was sub-let and run by Piers Le Cheminant.
Burghill Farms is now run by Lord Ramsay and trades as Dalhousie Estates.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, Burghill Farms was fined £120,000 while Le Cheminant, 76, was handed a £2,000 fine for breaches of gas safety and health and safety regulations after previously pleading guilty.
Members of Mr Hill’s family were present in court for Sheriff Gillian Wade’s sentencing, which took place on the sixth anniversary of his death.
Speaking outside court, Mr Hill’s father Jerry Hill, accompanied by his wife Alison, said: “Tom was a really special young man and it seems to us that what killed him was a series of failures.
“This has taken a third of what was his life to investigate and bring to court and that seems completely avoidable.
“We don’t think anyone comes out of it with great credit.
“We are looking forward to the fatal accident inquiry and hopefully they can make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“Tom was loved by his family, he never wasted any time in life.
“From a family point of view, it’s been devastating. We try to remember him in a positive way because he was a positive person.”
During a holiday with his girlfriend’s family, Mr Hill was found unconscious behind a bathroom door after carbon monoxide escaped from a faulty heater.
Tom’s partner at the time, Charlotte Beard, said: “The consequences of Tom’s death have been truly devastating.
“His family members have lost a dearly loved son and brother – a loss impossible for any of us to contemplate.
“In my abject grief, I miscarried our baby exactly one month later.
“I lost my love, my baby and future I had planned with Tom.
“I and other members of our family have been left traumatised and haunted by the graphic memory of that day.”
Desperate attempts were made to save the teenager’s life but he was pronounced dead en route to Ninewells Hospital.
Simon Ramsay said: “We previously offered our heartfelt condolences to Thomas Hill’s family and friends and do so again today.
“Our company’s role in this absolutely tragic matter is the source of deepest regret.
“Burghill Farms would have done anything to avert such a tragedy.
“The safeguards that were in place were revealed by the investigation to be insufficient.
“We accept our share of responsibility for those omissions in our safeguards and accept the penalty imposed by the court.”
The court was told how the four gas cabinet heaters fitted throughout the cottage should never have been installed, due to the small sizes of the rooms.
An investigation found damage to the ceramic plaques in the bathroom heater was a “crucial factor” in Mr Hill’s death.
Ten days before the teenager died, a family staying at the same cottage encountered problems with the bathroom heater making “putt-putt” noises and causing a woman’s eyes to sting.
Le Cheminant instructed a gas engineer to replace the gas bottle and found no issues.
However, the engineer was not qualified to undertake work on the heaters.
It was revealed that Cheminant told social workers compiling a pre-sentencing report that he blamed Burghill Farms for the incident and was accused of showing little remorse.
Sheriff Wade said: “The breaches subsisted over a period of seven-and-a-half years.
“I find that to be highly relevant in my assessment of culpability and risk.
“I accept neither party sought out to deliberately breach the regulations for profit or otherwise.
“The heater in the bathroom should never have been there at all.
“Mr Le Cheminant has no previous convictions, he is now 76 and is not in good health.
“The terms of the report do not entirely support the submission he had wholeheartedly embraced his culpability and expressed remorse.
“Nonetheless, I accept he has tendered the plea at a very early stage.
“The fine must underline the seriousness of the matter before me.”
Burghill Farms, a partnership having place of business at Dalhousie Estates, Brechin, pled guilty to failing to ensure that gas cabinet heaters were maintained in a safe condition so to prevent risk of injury to holiday residents, between March 1, 2008 and October 28, 2015.
The partnership admitted the heaters were within the cottage without a suitable and sufficient system of maintenance and that they were of an insufficient size, whereby persons were exposed to risk of injury or death as a result of exposure to carbon monoxide.
Le Cheminant, of Poundsgate, Newton Abbot, admitted a similar charge while acting as a self-employed person and operating a holiday let and place of work by failing to maintain safe conditions so as to prevent risk of injury.
Solicitor advocate Clare Bone, representing Burghill Farms, said the partnership has since taken action to address gas safety at all of the properties in their portfolio.
She said: “Mr Le Cheminant would instruct a local gas engineer.
“He was instructed to carry out reactive work to gas appliances.
“The estates manager was in regular contact with Mr Le Cheminant and the partnership were aware of the services the gas engineer was providing.
“They recognise now, however, they could not have such a hands-off approach and their actions fell short of what was required of them.
“They accept they could not simply pass on the responsibilities to another person without a more formal, robust system in place.”
Ms Bone added Burghill Farms has planted a row of trees in Mr Hill’s memory along the River North Esk as well as making donations to a carbon monoxide charity and Child Bereavement UK.
She revealed that any fine paid by Burghill Farms would be financed through increased borrowing or the sale of assets.
Le Cheminant’s defence counsel, Gavin Anderson, said: “It’s part of the wider picture that Mr Le Cheminant was not cavalier in his approach.
“There were things that ought to have been brought to his attention and, as a matter of fact, were not.
“He is not seeking to blame or deflect liability.”
