A property manager has been jailed for a year after two young children died in a fire in a rented house with no smoke alarms.
A judge told Kamal Bains that his failure to fit smoke alarms in the house in Huddersfield was a ‘significant cause’ of the deaths of Logan Taylor, three, and Jake Casey, two.
The youngsters died when an electrical fault in a TV caused a fire in their bedroom in February 2016.
Their distraught mother, Emma Taylor, told Leeds Crown Court she was beaten back by the heat and smoke as she tried to rescue them.
Bains, whose property company managed the house, had been on trial for manslaughter in a prosecution thought to be the first of its kind, but it ended when he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge under the Health and Safety Act 1974 on Monday.
The 51-year-old, of Stableford Gardens in Birkby , was jailed today (Wednesday) by Mr Justice Males, who told him: “Your failure to fit smoke alarms was a significant cause of the children’s deaths.
“Thus the harm caused by your failure could not have been more serious.”
Click here for an as-it-happened report from the courtroom as Bains was sentenced.
Bains was the director of property management company Prime Property Estates (Yorkshire), which maintained around 140 homes in the Huddersfield area on behalf of private landlords for a 10% cut of the rent.
Ms Taylor told the two-week trial that she asked Bains ‘time after time’ to fit alarms at the house he managed in Alder Street in Fartown .
Tests carried out by investigators showed Ms Taylor would have had ‘a few minutes’ to rescue her two boys if an alarm had been fitted.
The judge said: “Whatever some people might think, the sentence which I am passing today is not in any way a reflection of the value of the lives which have been lost.
“The lives of Logan and Jake were of infinite value and nobody must be in under any misapprehension about that.”
Bains did not react as he was sentenced or led down.
Ms Taylor and Mr Casey, the boys’ father, said in statement after the hearing: “We do hope that this case highlights this important issue and for people to know their responsibilities as landlords or letting agents and to take appropriate action to ensure that any property they are responsible for has working smoke alarms.
“Such a simple check could have saved the lives of our boys and we want to ensure that this does not happen to anyone else.”
It is thought to be the first prosecution of its kind in the UK since new legislation was introduced in October 2015 which said private sector landlords are required to have at least one smoke alarm installed on every storey of their properties.
The Crown Prosecution Service agreed to drop the manslaughter charges and the judge said it had become obvious during the trial that the prosecution ‘could not sustain’ its manslaughter case.
West Yorkshire’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Dave Walton, said: “This landmark case shows how vitally important it is that landlords and letting agents take their responsibilities seriously or the consequences do not bear thinking about.”
Det Supt Steve Thomas, who led the investigation, said the force is ‘pleased that we have secured justice for the family’.
