Tahnie Martin: Maintenance firm fined £1.3m over Storm Doris death in Wolverhampton
A company which admitted breaching health and safety laws after Tahnie Martin was killed by debris blown off a roof by Storm Doris has been fined £1.3 million.
Tahnie Martin, 29, from Stafford, was struck by a wooden panel which had been torn from its "rotten" fixings on the roof of the Mander Centre, in Wolverhampton city centre, on February 23 2017.
An inquest previously concluded a plant room on top of the roof, from which the panel was ripped away, may not have been maintained for nearly two decades.
Cushman and Wakefield Debenham Tie Leung Ltd, which was the managing agent responsible for centre maintenance at the time, had already admitted breaches of health and safety rules.
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'Nothing can turn back the clock': Tahnie Martin's mother condemns firm over Storm Doris death
Prosecutors said the firm had overseen "systemic" and "serious" maintenance failings.
At a sentencing hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Tuesday, Mrs Justice Carr said the company "failed to identify" two brick structures on the plant roof altogether.
She said: "By February 23, the parts intended to secure structures to the brick were entirely rotten and corroded.
"Unable to withstand winds of up to 59mph, they were simply blown away."
The firm has also been ordered to pay prosecution costs of £375,000.
The judge said: "A significant number of members of the public were put at risk of death or grave injury.
"A viewing of the CCTV footage available on the day makes it chillingly clear quite how busy the area was with shoppers.
"Within the period of approximately five minutes before the incident and in the area where Tahnie Martin was struck alone, 88 adults, 3 teenagers and 10 small children walked through.
"Several groups of pedestrians including the elderly and children pass through the location where Ms Martin was struck in the few minutes before 11.38am [the time the incident happened].
"The company placed too much reliance on Mr Dutton given his limited previous experience."
The judge added: "There was no basis for his apparent assumption that the plant room roof was a flat roof with no structures or plant on it.
"The structures are plain to see on the plant room roof from a wide range of positions on level six of the Black Rock building, specifically the structures can be seen clearly."
Speaking outside court, Cushman & Wakefield chief executive, Colin Wilson, said the company, which manages more than 650 other buildings, had "learned lessons" and changed its inspection regime since the incident.
Mr Martin’s parents, Jim and Rosie, have been devastated by the loss of their soon-to-be-married only child.
Her mother said: “We should have been planning a wedding. Instead we had to plan a funeral.
"Our only hope now is that no one else will have to suffer the indescribably loss that we have endured every minute of every day and every sleepless night since Tahnie was killed.”
Wolverhampton Council said the sentence reflects the "shocking" state of repair on the roof.
