Moonfleet Manor owner fined £200,000 after girl hit by roof slate

Rocare, in Ringwood, was fined, and Luxury Family Hotels (LFH), the company which owns Moonfleet Manor in Weymouth, was also fined £200,000 and ordered to pay £143,482 in costs.

Gloucestershire-based building consultants Quadra was also forced to pay £60,000 in a sentencing hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court.

All three companies were charged with breaching health and safety regulations.

The slate came off a roof at a construction site at the Moonfleet Manor and struck the young girl on June 13, 2019.

She had been leaving the hotel with her father and older brother after attending a swimming lesson.

Following the incident, the young girl was taken to the hospital where she had an operation after suffering a fractured skull.

The court heard the girl was placed into an induced coma while in hospital.

Pieces of slate tile were removed from the girl's head in hospital (Image: Health and Safety Executive)

She then underwent a two-hour operation to remove fragments of slate from her head.

Neurologists said there were "no obvious long-term implications" for the girl, but her parents were told to wait and see whether the injury may increase the long-term chances of the young girl suffering from epilepsy.

Judge Jonathan Fuller KC said: "This was a serious injury that may yet have long-term consequences."

The judge said the parents had told the court the incident had a significant impact on both their children as the girl's brother witnessed the slate falling and passed out immediately.

Slate tiles from Moonfleet Manor (Image: Health Executive)

The court heard a 1.5-kilogram slate fell two storeys onto the girl.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into this incident found scaffolding was not fit for purpose because it did not have sufficient measures to prevent items falling such as protective fans, covered walkways or, at a minimum, brick guards around the entire perimeter. Such measures are cheap and readily available within the industry.

It said Moonfleet Manor ignored requests and failed to put in measures to address an obvious hazard of falling objects coming into contact with members of the public using the busy thoroughfare to the swimming pool.

Moonfleet Manor was more concerned about putting the convenience of the guests and preventing the hotel from looking like a building site than the safety of their guests, the judge found.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Fuller said the Weymouth-based hotel company "prioritised convenience of hotel guests over safety" after they were alerted to "repeated warning" about the danger to pedestrians caused by the building works and had a duty to respond.

In consideration, the judge noted that the company had no previous conditions and good safety records.

Both Rocare and Quadra will pay their fines over a period of 10 years.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Nicole Buchanan said: “This incident has caused significant injuries and extreme distress to a child and her family; and could have been fatal.

“Clients and construction companies must always remember their legal duty to keep both workers and members of the public safe. The client, principal designer and principal contractor all have a duty to work together to implement the industry standards to ensure members of the public are safe particularly if a venue is to remain live.”