News In Focus
22 February 2007
Case against care home three falls on technicality
The prosecution against the owners of a care home where 14 people died in a fire was ruled incompetent yesterday due to a change in the business running the home.
However, the Crown has been granted the right to appeal against the decision made yesterday at the High Court in Glasgow.
Lord Hardie agreed with defence lawyers for Thomas Balmer, his wife Anne and their son Alan who were charged with health and safety breaches following the fire at Rosepark Home in January 2004.
The Balmers were charged as partners and employers in the business that ran the home. However in February 2005 the partnership was dissolved and a limited company, Balmer Care Homes, formed to take over the business.
The defence argued that the offences charged could only be committed by employers and the three accused had not been party to the employment contracts of the care home workers. The dissolution of the firm meant that it could no longer be charged
Lord Hardie said that although proceedings could no longer be brought against the dissolved firm, that did not necessarily mean that no charges could be brought against individuals. He added that if anyone had acted so as to render a prosecution impossible, these might include charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Full reasons for Lord Hardie's decision will be issued at a later date.
In a statement the Crown Office said: “As Lord Hardie stated, we would also wish to emphasise for the benefit of the relatives of those residents who perished in the fire, and the injured residents and their relatives, that this decision does not signal an end of proceedings.”