Council fined for negligence over wall collapse that killed toddler

Two-year-old Saurav Ghai was fatally injured when the brick wall belonging to Camden Council gave way on the Wending Estate in north London as he walked home with his nanny.

He was taken to hospital with multiple injuries after the incident in Southampton Road, Gospel Oak, in January 2007 but died shortly afterwards.

Camden Council was given a £72,000 fine and ordered to pay £65,000 prosecution costs yesterday after admitting health and safety breaches.

Judge Deborah Taylor, sitting at Southwark Crown Court, in London, told the council: “The most serious feature of this offence is that it was a significant cause to the death of little Saurav Ghai.”

His parents Vinay and Desiree were in court for the sentencing.

Judge Taylor added: “Their loss is clearly immeasurable.”

The London borough of Camden initially pleaded not guilty last year to failing to discharge a health and safety duty contrary to two sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, but changed its plea in October.

A wind speed of 75mph was recorded shortly after the 2,050lb (930kg) wall fell and hit Saurav, the court was told.

The council claimed it had no idea the wall was dangerous and at the risk of imminent collapse.

The boundary wall, which was only the thickness of half a brick, was built in the 1970s and repaired in 1997 after cracks were discovered.

However, it was found that the rebuilding work, 10 years before the accident, was not carried out correctly.

Judge Taylor said: “It is no dispute as a matter of fact, although Camden was not then aware of it, that the wall was constructed, when it was rebuilt in 1997, so that it was dangerous.”

A survey carried out in 2006 said work needed to be done on the wall in the next 12 months, but that message had not reached the council by the time of Saurav’s death.

The council said as part of its guilty plea that it did all that was reasonably practicable with regard to the safety of the wall.

The judge found, however, that it was the council’s responsibility to make sure the work was carried out properly in 1997 and described the overall inspection regime as “wholly inadequate”.

She said: “I have concluded that Camden failed to show in relation to the repair of this section of the wall that they did all that was reasonably practicable.”

The council should also have taken into account the location of the wall, next to a public footpath and near a school, she added, saying it was “significantly below” the standard expected of it.