Stanley Roberts, a crane operator, was electrocuted when the gib of the crane he was driving became entangled in some overhead high-voltage power lines.
The prosecution allege that Roberts was drunk at the time of the incident and that his employer had twice been warned that Roberts was an alcoholic and likely to cause accidents.
Colin Hunter, the owner of the company which employed him, stands accused of not taking sufficient action following these warnings and failure to discharge his duty as an employer as required by the Health & Safety Act (1974).
The prosecution allege that Roberts was drunk at the time of the incident and that his employer had twice been warned that Roberts was an alcoholic and likely to cause accidents.
Colin Hunter, the owner of the company which employed him, stands accused of not taking sufficient action following these warnings and failure to discharge his duty as an employer as required by the Health & Safety Act (1974).
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TVTranscript
00:00:00Mr. Stanley Roberts was a tall, strongly built man, height 5 foot 11 inches, weighed 13 stone
00:00:204 pounds. He was adequately nourished. The stomach showed signs of a partly digested
00:00:26meal with the smell of an alcoholic beverage about it. The lining of the gastric tract
00:00:30was chronically inflamed and the liver showed the sort of scar tissue symptomatic of cirrhosis
00:00:35in its early stages. A sample of blood taken from the right arm showed a level of 278 milligrams
00:00:43of alcohol to 100 milliliters of blood. Physical examination showed no other further abnormalities
00:00:52except... Except what, Doctor? Well, the left forearm showed signs of a bone that had been
00:00:58inadequately set after a fracture or breakage. There was a tattoo on it in the shape of a
00:01:03heart, pierced by an arrow with the word mother. Dr. Dorothy Conran is in the witness box. She's
00:01:09the consultant pathologist at Fullchester Royal Infirmary, where she conducted an autopsy
00:01:13on a crane driver called Stanley Roberts. On November the 28th last year, Roberts was electrocuted
00:01:18when the jib of the crane that he was driving became entangled in some overhead high-voltage
00:01:22wires. A small boy was also killed when he ran to help Roberts. The prosecution claimed
00:01:27that Roberts was drunk at the time of this incident and that his employer had twice been
00:01:31warned that Roberts was an alcoholic who was liable to cause accidents. It is now claimed
00:01:36that Colin Hunter, proprietor of Albert Hunter and Company, did not take sufficient action
00:01:41following these warnings, and he now stands accused of failure to discharge his duty as an employer,
00:01:46as required by the Health and Safety Act 1974, Section 2, Subsection 1, which provides that it
00:01:53shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health,
00:01:58safety and welfare at work of all his employees.
00:02:01Dr. Conran, you say that Mr. Roberts had some 200-odd milligrams of alcohol in the bloodstream. Is that
00:02:15correct?
00:02:15278 milligrams.
00:02:16278. Yes. Would you tell the court, please, what 278 milligrams of alcohol in the bloodstream
00:02:24represents? I mean, in layman's terms, a beer or whiskey?
00:02:28I would estimate about 10 pints of beer or 20 single whiskeys.
00:02:34So, would that have had any effect on his behaviour, would you imagine?
00:02:40I would have thought so, yes. Quite an effect.
00:02:43Thank you, Doctor. Now, in your opinion, and I'm sure there's no dispute about this whatsoever,
00:02:50and I'm sure Mr. Harvey won't mind if I... I beg your pardon, Mr. Harvesty won't mind if I lead on this one.
00:02:58Would you say, Doctor, that Mr. Roberts was drunk?
00:03:02Yes, he'd be drunk.
00:03:04Dr. Conran, before you began your autopsy...
00:03:10Yes.
00:03:12When you first set eyes on the deceased's body...
00:03:16Yes.
00:03:17What were your first feelings, your first impressions of the deceased's body?
00:03:23My feelings?
00:03:25Yes, yes, you say that the deceased was a tall, strongly built man.
00:03:29Yes.
00:03:30Height, 5 foot 11 inches, weight 13 stones, 4 pounds.
00:03:34That's right.
00:03:35And you said he was adequately nourished.
00:03:37Yes.
00:03:38So, you saw before you, did you not, the body of a strong, virile man in good physical condition?
00:03:45Yes, yes.
00:03:46Apart, of course, from cirrhosis of the liver in its early stages,
00:03:50and what you say appeared to be chronic inflammation of the gastric tract.
00:03:54That's right.
00:03:55Now, contrary to popular belief, Dr. Conran,
00:03:58cirrhosis of the liver isn't only caused, is it, by excessive drinking over a long period of time?
00:04:04No, there are other causes, certainly.
00:04:06Such as, Doctor?
00:04:08Dietary deficiency, hepatitis, virus infection.
00:04:11And apparently, it can sometimes happen spontaneously.
00:04:14Oh, you mean that cirrhosis of the liver can sometimes occur without any apparent cause at all?
00:04:18It can happen, yes.
00:04:19I see.
00:04:20And, again, if we exclude excessive drinking,
00:04:22could there also have been other causes that might account for this chronic inflammation of the gastric tract?
00:04:28There could have been other causes, yes.
00:04:30I see.
00:04:31So your first impressions and your subsequent detailed examination of the deceased's body
00:04:38didn't reveal it to be that of a man whose whole system had been ravaged by the excesses of addiction to alcohol?
00:04:46No.
00:04:47No.
00:04:48No.
00:04:50Thank you, Dr. Conran.
00:04:51No further questions?
00:04:53Dr. Conran, this inflammation of the gastric tract,
00:04:58what effect would this have on Roberts, were he still alive?
00:05:03Were he still alive?
00:05:04Yes.
00:05:04He'd probably be suffering from all the symptoms of gastritis.
00:05:09Indigestion, abdominal discomfort, feelings of nausea, occasional bouts of vomiting.
00:05:15Yes, and in your medical opinion,
00:05:19what would be the causes of this liver condition and the inflammation of the gastric tract?
00:05:25Well, I'd have to have further details of Mr. Roberts' past history to be certain on this point,
00:05:29but the most likely explanation is that this is due to heavy drinking over a series of years, months.
00:05:35Thank you, Doctor.
00:05:40And you are Mrs. Vivian Proctor of Oakwood Lane?
00:05:47No, I beg your pardon.
00:05:48Park Lodge, Oakwood Lane, yes?
00:05:51I am.
00:05:52And you live at that address with your son and his wife, is that correct?
00:05:56Yes.
00:05:56Yes, now, I believe there's some new development taking place near Park Lodge.
00:06:02Yes, unfortunately, there's a new housing estate.
00:06:05Yes.
00:06:06Now, on November the 28th last year, you were walking along Oakwood Lane.
00:06:11Yes, I was just returning from the village infant school with my grandson, Kenneth.
00:06:17I quite often used to collect him from school.
00:06:19It's a nice walk along the lane to the village there and back.
00:06:23I've always said that.
00:06:23And did you see somebody in the field of Oakwood Farm?
00:06:28Yes, I did.
00:06:29Now, who was that, Mrs. Proctor?
00:06:30Well, it was one of Hunter's workmen.
00:06:33They must have been clearing the fields where the old stables used to be.
00:06:37He was driving a crane on wheels.
00:06:40And do you recognize this man driving the crane on wheels?
00:06:43Yes, I did.
00:06:44And who was it?
00:06:45Stan.
00:06:46They called him Stan.
00:06:47Yes, and you've since discovered that this was Mr. Stanley Roberts.
00:06:51Is that correct?
00:06:52Yes, that's right.
00:06:53Yes, now, will you tell the court how you came to know Mr. Roberts?
00:06:57Well, my son asked him to do some work for us.
00:07:01What sort of work was that?
00:07:02Well, there are a few acres of land attached to the lodge and Kenneth, young as he is, was
00:07:07always pestering us to learn to play tennis.
00:07:10He idolizes Jimmy Connors, you know, absolutely idolizes him.
00:07:15So my son thought he'd have a grass tennis court laid out, and he asked this man they
00:07:20called Stan to level out part of the ground.
00:07:22Yes, and did he?
00:07:24Well, he arrived one evening when my son and daughter-in-law were rehearsing for the Fulchester
00:07:29Players.
00:07:30They did the Merry Widow again last Christmas, you know.
00:07:33Ah.
00:07:34So, you were in fact alone in the house?
00:07:38Yes, apart from little Kenneth, of course, and he was asleep.
00:07:42When would this be, Mrs. Proctor?
00:07:44Well, it was the Thursday evening.
00:07:46Yes, now that's Thursday the 20th of November.
00:07:50Yes, that's right.
00:07:51And would you tell the court, please, what happened on that occasion?
00:07:54Well, there's rather a lovely chestnut tree at the side leading to the lodge, and I was
00:08:00on the phone to Mrs. Mortimer at the time, discussing the recipe for a fruitcake she wanted me to
00:08:06prepare for the church fund, when suddenly there was an almighty crash outside.
00:08:12This man they called Stan had arrived with a mechanical excavator, and he crashed straight
00:08:20into the chestnut tree.
00:08:22Well, I rushed out of the front door, and he was standing there with a glazed look in his
00:08:27eyes.
00:08:27He turned around, walked towards me, and his breath was reeking with beer.
00:08:34I just told him to go away.
00:08:36And did he go away?
00:08:37No.
00:08:38He said he was Anthony Quinn.
00:08:42Anthony Quinn?
00:08:43Yes, he started singing Zorba the Greek, and wanted me to dance across the lawn with
00:08:49him.
00:08:49Yes, I see.
00:08:50And what happened after that?
00:08:52Well, he just fell flat on his face.
00:08:55Flat on his face.
00:08:57I see.
00:08:57Please continue, Mrs. Proctor.
00:09:00Well, I went back to the lodge, and sooner after that he drove away.
00:09:04The noise had woken little Kenneth up, and I was just so angry.
00:09:10All this happened the Thursday evening.
00:09:14Well, the following Monday after the weekend, I went down to the foreman, and I complained
00:09:19to him.
00:09:20I said, they shouldn't allow alcoholics like that man to work for them, I said.
00:09:24He was a menace, I told him.
00:09:25Mrs. Proctor, am I right in saying that this was the Friday following the Monday that you
00:09:30saw Stanley Roberts driving the crane in the field of Oakwood Farm?
00:09:35Yes, that's right.
00:09:36Now, would you, excuse me, would you tell the jury, please, what happened on Friday afternoon
00:09:42the 28th of November?
00:09:45Well, there's not much to tell, really.
00:09:47As I said, this man stands driving his crane across the wheels, and there are these electricity
00:09:54wires that run along the edge of the field.
00:09:57Well, he seemed to drive alongside them for several yards, when suddenly there was a huge
00:10:04flash and a bang.
00:10:07I was just so shocked, I didn't know what to do.
00:10:10Then he...
00:10:10Yes, Mrs. Proctor?
00:10:12Then he jumped out of the driving seat, and as his feet touched the ground, there was another
00:10:17flash.
00:10:17He screamed and seemed to stand frozen there, with his hand on the side of the crane,
00:10:23his mouth open and his eyes staring.
00:10:26He wasn't very far away from us, you see.
00:10:29Well, I'd taken hold of little Kenneth's hand when the first flash went, but he broke away
00:10:36somehow.
00:10:37Now, I must have loosened my grip, or I just don't know that the next thing I remember
00:10:44was Kenneth climbing through the edge and running towards the crane.
00:10:49I shouted at him to stop, but he just kept on running.
00:10:51He reached the crane, put out his hand, touched his ankles.
00:10:56Of course, Kenneth, that's not a heck of a...
00:10:59Well, Mrs. Proctor, I won't trouble you much longer.
00:11:13I realise that all this can't have been very pleasant for you, to say the least, but I'd
00:11:18like to put just one small point to you, to clear up.
00:11:21Is that all right?
00:11:23Yes, of course.
00:11:23Thank you. It concerns the time at which the deceased man came with the excavator and
00:11:28crashed into the chestnut tree.
00:11:29Now, you say it was Thursday evening, November the 20th.
00:11:33Is that right?
00:11:34Yes, it must have been somewhere around about 7.30 or 8, I should know.
00:11:39I see.
00:11:40So, if the deceased finished work at, say, half-past five or even six, he would have
00:11:45had plenty of time to go to the pub and have a few drinks before coming along to see you.
00:11:50Well, he'd had more than a few the state he was in.
00:11:52Well, I appreciate that, Mrs. Proctor, but you would agree, wouldn't you, that nothing
00:11:55you've said indicates that the deceased was drinking during working hours of the day in
00:12:00question?
00:12:02No, I suppose not.
00:12:04No, so he could have had nothing to drink all day and then popped into the pub before
00:12:09coming along to see you.
00:12:11Yes.
00:12:12And it's just this, the circumstances surrounding the event with the chestnut tree, which are
00:12:18the sole basis for your complaint to the site foreman that the deceased was an alcoholic
00:12:23and a menace?
00:12:25Yes.
00:12:26You have no personal knowledge at all of any other circumstance, either before or since,
00:12:32including the day of the tragedy, which would indicate that the deceased was an alcoholic.
00:12:37Well, only what I read in the papers, of course.
00:12:40Thank you, Mrs. Proctor.
00:12:42You may stand down, Mrs. Proctor.
00:12:52Now, you are Mrs. Pauline Roberts of, um, 75 Manson Street, Folchester.
00:13:01I am.
00:13:02Yes, and you work as a, uh, a typist at the, I beg your pardon, a typing supervisor of the
00:13:11Folchester branch of the Trans-Pennine Insurance Company.
00:13:14I do.
00:13:15Yes.
00:13:16And you're the wife of Mr. Stanley, I beg your pardon, Mrs. Roberts, you were the wife of
00:13:21Mr. Stanley Roberts.
00:13:22Yes.
00:13:23How long have you been married, Mrs. Roberts?
00:13:26Well, almost ten years.
00:13:28Yes.
00:13:28It would have been ten years next September.
00:13:30And did you ever have, uh, cause to be concerned about your, your husband's health in any way?
00:13:35Yes, I did.
00:13:37And, uh, did you contact anybody about this worry you had?
00:13:40I did.
00:13:41Yes.
00:13:41And amongst the people you, you contacted, did you ever write a letter to anybody?
00:13:46Yes, I did.
00:13:47Yes.
00:13:47Now, to whom did you write?
00:13:49It was Mr. Hunter.
00:13:51Now, that's Mr. Colin Hunter of the Albert Hunter Engineering Firm of Folchester.
00:13:57Yes.
00:13:57And, uh, do you recognise Mr. Hunter here in court?
00:14:01No, I don't.
00:14:03You, you don't recognise Mr. Hunter.
00:14:05Uh, why don't you recognise him?
00:14:06I, I've never met him.
00:14:08I wrote to him.
00:14:10I asked him for help.
00:14:12I warned him that my husband was sick, an alcoholic, and that he might have a serious accident at work
00:14:17because of his sickness.
00:14:18I, I thought perhaps Mr. Hunter would arrange a time to meet me and talk about my husband's illness.
00:14:24Yes, and did he do that, Mrs. Roberts?
00:14:26No, he didn't.
00:14:28But he answered your letter.
00:14:29No, he didn't.
00:14:30Now, Mrs. Roberts, I, I'm afraid since the, uh, defence is going to contest your statement that your husband was an alcoholic,
00:14:37I, I'm going to have to ask you to relate in detail the events that led up to you writing that letter to the accused, Mr. Hunter.
00:14:45Well, of course, I knew when we first started going out together.
00:14:50I, I knew even then that he drank a lot, more than most people, perhaps.
00:14:54But I didn't really attach too much importance to it at that time.
00:14:58You see, he just got into the first team for Fulchester Rovers, and all that rugby league crew drank like whales on a desert island.
00:15:07Stan was great fun to be with.
00:15:09Such good company.
00:15:11The whole team thought a great deal of him.
00:15:13And, uh, we were in love.
00:15:17Yes, Mrs. Roberts, well, was there a time when you, you started to worry about the amount your husband was drinking?
00:15:23Well, after we were married, and, uh, Stan was working as a mechanic at one of the local garages.
00:15:29I, I'd always believed he had it in him to hold down a job with more social status.
00:15:34And I finally managed to convince him to start an evening course with Fulchester Polytechnic.
00:15:39Leicester, I thought I'd persuaded him to start it.
00:15:43You thought you'd persuaded him?
00:15:45Well, I, I found out one night, quite by accident.
00:15:48A friend of mine had seen him in a pub the whole evening.
00:15:51When he told me he'd be at the Polytechnic.
00:15:54At first he said he'd been at a training session with the Rovers.
00:15:57But when I told him he'd been seen in a pub the whole evening,
00:16:00he switched to saying they'd been discussing tactics at the pub,
00:16:03and what business had I to spy on him all the time.
00:16:07And that was when he first assaulted me.
00:16:10He assaulted you?
00:16:12He just went mad and hit out at me.
00:16:15I had a terrible black eye.
00:16:17I had to wear dark glasses for almost a week.
00:16:19And, er, from then on things got progressively worse as the months went by.
00:16:25In what way did they get worse, Mrs Roberts?
00:16:28Well, I hardly saw any of the money he earned.
00:16:30It all went on drink.
00:16:33I was left to cope with all the household bills,
00:16:35the children's clothes, the mortgage, everything.
00:16:38And, er...
00:16:39And by this time, you see, he'd given up his job at the garage.
00:16:42He stopped going to evening school.
00:16:44If he ever went there in the first place.
00:16:47And he'd found himself work,
00:16:49driving trucks for a construction firm.
00:16:53Sometimes I think he did it all to spite me.
00:16:55And you say, at this time,
00:16:57he was spending a great deal of money on drink.
00:17:00He was like Jekyll and I.
00:17:03Once he'd started drinking,
00:17:04nothing he could say would make any sense to him.
00:17:07He'd quarrel over every word I spoke
00:17:09and tell me I was talking nonsense.
00:17:13I can't describe it.
00:17:16If you haven't lived through it,
00:17:17you can't know what it was like.
00:17:21In the six months or so before he was killed,
00:17:25how often do you say he was coming home the worse for drink?
00:17:29Every night of the week.
00:17:30Every night, Mrs. Roberts?
00:17:33Well, there were a few occasions.
00:17:36One or two nights when he'd feel remorseful and stay at home.
00:17:39And then we'd put the children to bed
00:17:42and he'd sit at my feet in front of the fire.
00:17:46Tell me about how he used to brush his mother's hair when he was a child.
00:17:51And he'd say, do anything to make me happy.
00:17:54But he didn't mean it.
00:17:57The drink came before me every time.
00:18:00Mrs. Roberts, was there ever a time when you tried to take action to change this situation?
00:18:10Endlessly.
00:18:11I tried to persuade him to see a doctor,
00:18:14but he said he didn't believe in them.
00:18:15He wouldn't even sign on a doctor's panel.
00:18:17I even plucked up enough courage on one occasion to suggest that he contacted Alcoholics Anonymous.
00:18:24But he went berserk when I mentioned it.
00:18:27He threw plates on the kitchen floor and hurled a saucepan through the window.
00:18:31The children cried and locked themselves in the bathroom.
00:18:35It took me half an hour to persuade them it was safe to come out again.
00:18:39But he still wouldn't agree to see anybody.
00:18:42He said he didn't have a drinking problem.
00:18:46He said I was the only problem he had.
00:18:49And, Mrs. Roberts, what made you decide to write this letter to Mr. Hunter?
00:18:55Well, he'd already had a couple of accidents at work.
00:18:58In one of them, he was quite seriously injured.
00:19:00After a fall from some scaffolding, I think it was.
00:19:04And I was worried that something even more serious might happen to him next time.
00:19:08I couldn't persuade him by myself to seek help anywhere.
00:19:12And I thought, when Mr. Hunter read my letter,
00:19:15that he'd talk things over with me
00:19:17and we might be able to work out some other way to help Stan.
00:19:21Yes, that sounds reasonable.
00:19:23But what effect, in fact, did this letter have?
00:19:27A few weeks after I posted it,
00:19:29Stan came home drunk and in a furious rage.
00:19:34He'd been called in to see Mr. Hunter and been threatened with a sack.
00:19:39He began hitting me again.
00:19:42And I was so badly bruised, I had to go to my doctor for treatment.
00:19:45Did you tell the doctor that your husband had assaulted you?
00:19:50No, I made up a story about an accident at home.
00:19:53I was too ashamed to tell him the truth.
00:19:56And how did your husband react after this incident?
00:20:01He was full of remorse, as usual after he'd been violent.
00:20:05He seemed to calm down for a while.
00:20:07Thank you, Mrs. Roberts.
00:20:10Could the witness be shown Exhibit 1, please?
00:20:17Now, Mrs. Roberts, is that a copy of the letter you sent to Mr. Hunter?
00:20:23It is.
00:20:23And this is the letter in which you warned him that your husband was an alcoholic?
00:20:30It is.
00:20:31Could the jury be given copies of this letter, please, Your Honour?
00:20:35And, as usual, we're short of copies.
00:20:38These are photocopies, are they, Mr. Griffiths, and not typed copies?
00:20:41Yes, indeed.
00:20:42Members of the jury, these are photocopies of the letter sent by Mrs. Roberts to Mr. Hunter.
00:20:50Since photocopying does tend to be a somewhat expensive process these days,
00:20:57and even the legal profession has to economize in times of inflation,
00:21:03I'm afraid we must ask you to share one copy between two.
00:21:07Now, has everyone access to a copy?
00:21:11Good.
00:21:12Very well, Mr. Griffiths.
00:21:14Thank you, Your Honour.
00:21:15Now, Mrs. Roberts, would you please read out that letter to the court?
00:21:24In your own time?
00:21:28Is anything the matter, Mrs. Roberts?
00:21:32It's just that it seems so long ago.
00:21:35I'm afraid it reads as though, well, almost hysterical in tone.
00:21:40It's not how I intended it to be at all.
00:21:43Never mind what you think of it now, Mrs. Roberts.
00:21:46Just read the letter out as your counsel requests.
00:21:50Sing out loud and clearly so that we can all hear you.
00:21:54Hmm?
00:21:54You want me to read everything?
00:21:56If you would, Mrs. Roberts.
00:21:59C. Hunter Esquire, Albert Hunter and Company, Market Street, Fullchester, August 17th, 1975.
00:22:08Dear Mr. Hunter, you must help me.
00:22:14I'm at my wit's end with worry.
00:22:17My husband, Stanley Roberts, works for you.
00:22:19And he's an alcoholic.
00:22:21An out-and-out drunkard.
00:22:24God knows I've tried to reform him.
00:22:27I've pleaded with him to see a doctor or to make contact with Alcoholics Anonymous.
00:22:33But he just won't see reason.
00:22:35He says he doesn't have a drinking problem.
00:22:38And that it's all my imagination.
00:22:40Imagination.
00:22:42Imagination.
00:22:44Dear God, if only you knew.
00:22:48If only you could see him when he comes home drunk at night.
00:22:51And I have to hide my face under the sheets of the bed and pretend to be asleep.
00:22:57He's had at least two accidents at work that I know about.
00:23:00And in one of them had his arm broken.
00:23:03I'm sure it's all caused by his drinking.
00:23:05And I'm afraid something really bad will happen to him.
00:23:12One day.
00:23:15You must help me.
00:23:18I'm frightened.
00:23:20I don't want you to dismiss him from your firm or anything like that.
00:23:26I just want him back again.
00:23:30Like he used to be when we were first married.
00:23:32Please, please help me.
00:23:37Yours faithfully.
00:23:39Pauline Roberts.
00:23:42Mrs.
00:23:42The jury in this case is composed of members of the general public.
00:24:03The Queen against Hunter will be resumed tomorrow in the Crown Court.
00:24:07Mrs. Roberts?
00:24:35Yes?
00:24:35Would you be so kind as to look now then at that letter that you have in your hand?
00:24:40Perhaps the jury would like to look at it again with you.
00:24:43This is Mrs. Pauline Roberts, widow of a crane driver called Stanley Roberts.
00:24:47On November the 28th last year, Roberts was electrocuted when the jib of the crane he was driving became entangled in some overhead high-voltage wires.
00:24:55A small boy was also killed when he ran to help Roberts.
00:24:59The prosecution claimed that Roberts was drunk at the time of this incident and that his employer had twice been warned that Roberts was an alcoholic who was liable to cause accidents.
00:25:08One of these warnings was given in a letter from Mrs. Roberts, which has now become an exhibit in the trial.
00:25:13The prosecution claimed that Colin Hunter, proprietor of Albert Hunter and Company, civil engineers of Fulchester, did not take sufficient action following these warnings and he now stands accused of failure to discharge his duty as an employer, as required by the Health and Safety Act 1974, section 2, subsection 1, which provides that it shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.
00:25:43Mrs. Roberts, this is quite a letter, isn't it?
00:25:47I don't know. What do you mean?
00:25:49Oh, come now, Mrs. Roberts.
00:25:53Look at this, an out-and-out drunkard. God knows I've tried to reform him.
00:25:57Dear God, if only you knew.
00:26:00I have to hide my face under the sheets of the bed, pretend to be asleep.
00:26:04You must help me. I'm...
00:26:06Your Honour, I wonder if my learned friend could be asked to stop this ridiculous mumbling.
00:26:12I don't understand a word of it. I'm sure the jury don't.
00:26:17Mrs. Roberts, you yourself describe this letter, and I have your words written down in front of me.
00:26:24You describe it as almost hysterical in tone.
00:26:28Is that right? Is that what you said?
00:26:30Yes.
00:26:30Almost hysterical in tone?
00:26:32Yes, I said yes.
00:26:33Thank you, Mrs. Roberts.
00:26:36But that was still no reason for Mr. Hunter not to look into the matter thoroughly, was it?
00:26:39Of course not, Mrs. Roberts.
00:26:41And you know, do you not, that the defendant did, in fact, look into the matter.
00:26:44He spoke to the deceased about it, didn't he?
00:26:46He showed him your letter.
00:26:48Oh, yes, he did that all right.
00:26:49And do you not know that the deceased said that there was very little truth in it?
00:26:55He said that it was all part of a campaign on your part to get him dismissed from Hunter's,
00:27:00so that you might be able to persuade him to try for what you regarded as a more respectable position elsewhere.
00:27:08Is that what he said?
00:27:09Hmm.
00:27:09It doesn't surprise me.
00:27:10Why doesn't it surprise you, Mrs. Roberts?
00:27:13Because it's the truth?
00:27:14No, because it's the sort of thing Stan would say.
00:27:17Do you not know that the defendant did, in fact, set in motion full inquiries as to the allegations in your letter
00:27:23and found there to be no indication at all that the deceased was drinking at work or was indeed an alcoholic?
00:27:30Well, they couldn't have been very thorough investigations.
00:27:32That's all I can say.
00:27:33Well, do you not know that the defendant went through the deceased's work record over the past few years
00:27:38with a fine-tooth comb and was extremely concerned over some disciplinary aspects,
00:27:44including those two accidents which she was involved in?
00:27:48No, I didn't know that.
00:27:49Didn't you know that he was so worried about those accidents that he insisted that the deceased should take a special test
00:27:57on cranes, several types of those, other plant equipment,
00:28:01to make sure that he was still up to the required standard for a plant operator?
00:28:04And he threatened him with dismissal if ever he should cause an accident in the future
00:28:10through contravention of company regulations.
00:28:13I knew he'd threatened to fire him, but I didn't know about the tests.
00:28:17Do you not know that the deceased passed those tests satisfactorily?
00:28:21No.
00:28:22And that Mr. Hunter suggested that, to put your mind at rest,
00:28:25perhaps the deceased should talk to the company doctor.
00:28:28Well, what do you find so amusing about that, Mrs. Roberts?
00:28:32And I'll bet Stan said, yes, Mr. Hunter, of course I'll see a doctor, Mr. Hunter.
00:28:37Well, yes.
00:28:38Yes, he did say something to that effect, as a matter of fact.
00:28:40Trust him.
00:28:41But wouldn't you now agree, Mrs. Roberts,
00:28:44that after Mr. Hunter had received your admittedly hysterical letter,
00:28:49the action which he then took was both full and sufficient?
00:28:52I think it would have taken more than some tests and a threat of dismissal
00:28:56to help with my husband's problem of alcoholism.
00:28:58Yeah, well, look, we'll come to the question of the alleged alcoholism in a few moments.
00:29:03But just for now, Mrs. Roberts, I'm right in thinking, am I not,
00:29:06that in your evidence a little while ago, you said that after Mr. Hunter took the action that he did,
00:29:13the deceased seemed to calm down for a while.
00:29:16Now, those were the words you used, weren't they?
00:29:18Yes, but it didn't last for long.
00:29:20Tom, how can you possibly know that?
00:29:22Well, I was living with him, wasn't I?
00:29:24I saw him at home every night.
00:29:25Ah, yes, Mrs. Roberts, you saw him at home, but you did not see him at work, did you?
00:29:30No.
00:29:31No, so it's possible, isn't it, that the disciplinary action taken by Mr. Hunter
00:29:35had a lasting effect on the deceased during his working hours,
00:29:40while at home, perhaps, because of family circumstances,
00:29:43he drank a little more than you thought proper.
00:29:46Stan was an alcoholic.
00:29:49No.
00:29:49He was sick.
00:29:50It wouldn't matter if he was at home or at work.
00:29:52Mrs. Roberts, I...
00:29:53He couldn't last more than a couple of hours without a drink.
00:29:56No amount of disciplinary action can cure an illness like that.
00:29:59But, Mrs. Roberts, I have to repeat that your knowledge of the deceased's drinking
00:30:03is limited to what happened at home, isn't it?
00:30:06Yes.
00:30:07Yes.
00:30:08You've no personal knowledge at all, have you, of how much he did or did not drink at work?
00:30:12No.
00:30:12No, and we're only concerned in this court with his drinking at work, aren't we?
00:30:17Yes.
00:30:17Yes.
00:30:18Yes, yes.
00:30:19No, no.
00:30:20Must you keep on parroting my replies all the time?
00:30:22I'm agreeing with you, aren't I?
00:30:23Isn't that enough?
00:30:24Now, calm yourself, Mrs. Roberts.
00:30:26Calm yourself.
00:30:27Don't allow yourself to be carried away unnecessarily.
00:30:31Just answer the questions as counsel puts them to you.
00:30:34Thank you, Your Honour.
00:30:38You're a very complicated woman, aren't you, Mrs. Roberts?
00:30:42I don't think so.
00:30:43Not really.
00:30:44Oh, aren't you?
00:30:45Aren't you really?
00:30:47I wonder what your real reason was for writing that letter to Mr. Hunter.
00:30:52It was to ask him to help me withstands alcoholism.
00:30:56I was afraid something might happen otherwise.
00:30:59And it did, didn't it?
00:31:00Mrs. Roberts, in your position as a typing pool supervisor,
00:31:07you have a number of people working under you, don't you?
00:31:11Yes.
00:31:13You're accustomed to giving instructions to other people, aren't you?
00:31:16Yes.
00:31:16And you're accustomed to having those instructions carried out?
00:31:19Yes.
00:31:21Was the deceased happy when he was working as a garage mechanic?
00:31:25I'm not sure.
00:31:26He might have been.
00:31:26It was so long ago.
00:31:27Well, was he?
00:31:28He wasn't unhappy, was he?
00:31:29No, he wasn't unhappy.
00:31:31Is it not the case, Mrs. Roberts, that you wanted the deceased to bend to your will at
00:31:36home in the same way as you were accustomed to having your instructions carried out while
00:31:41you were at work?
00:31:41No, that's not true.
00:31:42I don't think you should say that.
00:31:43Yes, but look, you said in your evidence, did you not, I'd always thought he had it in
00:31:48him to get a better job with more social status.
00:31:50Yes.
00:31:51Yes.
00:31:52And when the deceased obtained a job with even lower social status, you said of that
00:31:56event, I think he did it all to spite me.
00:31:59Yes.
00:32:00Yes.
00:32:00You would have liked the deceased to have given up his job with Albert Hunter and Company
00:32:03and to have started training for a job with more social status, wouldn't you?
00:32:07Yes.
00:32:07And yet, when you wrote this letter to your husband's employer, you ended with these words,
00:32:12and I shall quote, uh, I don't want you to dismiss him from your firm or anything like
00:32:18that.
00:32:18I just want him back again, like he used to be when we were first married.
00:32:23I didn't know what else to do.
00:32:25I loved him.
00:32:26Ah, yes, Mrs. Roberts, but I suggest you loved him as you wanted him to be and not as he was.
00:32:32I suggest that your real reason for writing to the defendant wasn't your concern over the
00:32:38deceased's drinking at all, was it?
00:32:39That was just a pretext, wasn't it?
00:32:42What did you say?
00:32:42I'm sorry.
00:32:44I'm suggesting to you, Mrs. Roberts, that if you'd really been concerned about the deceased's
00:32:49drinking, you would somehow or other have been able to overcome your feeling of shame
00:32:54and discussed it with the family doctor.
00:32:58I'm suggesting that what you actually wanted to do was to create a situation in which, in
00:33:05spite of what you say here in your letter about not wanting him to be dismissed, the
00:33:09deceased would be dismissed, so that you'd be able more easily to persuade him to try
00:33:14for a job with more social status, as you put it, so then the deceased would perhaps
00:33:18must you keep on calling him the deceased, the deceased, the deceased?
00:33:22It's just a manner of speech, Mrs. Roberts.
00:33:24Why isn't he still alive?
00:33:25Is it my fault?
00:33:27Why couldn't somebody help him?
00:33:30Somebody.
00:33:39I call Mr. William Marshall.
00:33:43William Marshall.
00:33:48What is your religion?
00:33:58Church of England.
00:33:59Take the book in your right hand.
00:34:02Read what is on the card.
00:34:04I promise before mighty God to tell the truth, the old truth and nothing but the truth.
00:34:08Now, you are Mr. William Marshall of 23 Irpingham Road, Falchester.
00:34:18That's it.
00:34:19Yes.
00:34:19And you work for the Albert Hunter Construction Firm, yes?
00:34:24Yep.
00:34:25Now, in what capacity are you employed, Mr. Marshall?
00:34:29I'm a slinger.
00:34:29A what?
00:34:32A slinger?
00:34:34I'll take it.
00:34:35If I might interrupt you for just one moment, Mr. Marshall, I don't...
00:34:39Are you chewing gum?
00:34:42As I say, I don't wish to appear in the least patronizing, but I wonder when you give your
00:34:51evidence to the court, if you would avoid the temptation to which we so often find people
00:34:57in occupations such as yours are somewhat susceptible, namely the utilization of trade jargon such
00:35:04as slingers or slashers or cowboys or similar nomenclature, which, though colorful and doubtless
00:35:14descriptively accurate, nevertheless have to be explained at tedious length to the jury.
00:35:20And this results in the consumption of an inordinate amount of court time which might usefully be
00:35:26allocated to other cases, simple language, Mr. Marshall, will suffice.
00:35:32All right.
00:35:35Very well, Mr. Griffiths.
00:35:37Let us return to your muttons.
00:35:40Thank you, Your Honor.
00:35:41Saving the court so much time.
00:35:44Mr. Marshall, what exactly is your job as a slinger?
00:35:50A slinger slings for the crane driver, like, uh...
00:35:53Mitchell, what's being moved, like, is secured properly, you know what I mean, to the chain
00:35:58that hangs down from jib, like.
00:35:59So you, uh, you worked with Mr. Roberts?
00:36:02That's it.
00:36:03Now, were you working with him on the afternoon of, uh, November the 28th when this crane he
00:36:08was driving became entangled in the overhead electricity wires?
00:36:13Nope.
00:36:13Was, uh, anyone working with him then?
00:36:16Nope.
00:36:16We weren't working in that field like, uh, nobody's supposed to be working in that field
00:36:20like then.
00:36:21What, not even Mr. Roberts?
00:36:22Nope.
00:36:23Why do you think, uh, Mr. Marshall Roberts ventured into that field on that afternoon?
00:36:29Well, he was drunk like, wasn't he?
00:36:31Oh, how do you mean he...
00:36:32How do you know he was drunk, Mr. Marshall, if you weren't with him?
00:36:36Well, I'd seen him come back from booze at dinner time.
00:36:38Was he drunk then?
00:36:40Eh?
00:36:40Should have seen him.
00:36:42He said he's going to get his head down for a kip.
00:36:44I see.
00:36:45Uh, Mr. Marshall, how long, uh, have you known Mr. Roberts?
00:36:51He's done.
00:36:52Ever since he first came to work for Mr. Hunter, uh, about five years since, something
00:36:56like that.
00:36:56Yes, and you were acquainted with him before he came to Hunter's, were you?
00:37:00Not to talk to like, uh, I'd seen him play.
00:37:03You'd seen him play?
00:37:04In rugby league.
00:37:06He was a full-back for Fulchester Rovers.
00:37:08I'd always admired him.
00:37:10I mean, some of the things he could do on that park stop just short of being a ruddy
00:37:12masterpiece.
00:37:13He'd come up from full-back to make the extra three-quarter, like.
00:37:17I mean, see him in slow motion with brass band playing poet and peasant, you'd think he
00:37:20was somewhat out of Russian ballet.
00:37:21So, uh, you and, um, you and Mr. Roberts were close friends, were you?
00:37:29Not really, like.
00:37:30He was a bit moody.
00:37:31He had to be careful how you put things to him, especially since he left, uh, Rovers.
00:37:34Ah, now, when would that be, Mr. Marshall?
00:37:36About, uh, three years since.
00:37:39He kept having days off, like.
00:37:40I mean, he don't play like standard, like without some duff-bagger trying to duff you up
00:37:44sooner or later than he, uh, chucked it in.
00:37:47I mean, nobody knew why, except, uh, some of the lads, uh, thought his missus were getting
00:37:51at him, like.
00:37:53There you go.
00:37:54And he still kept having days off.
00:37:56Yeah.
00:37:56What did you think the significance of, of that was?
00:38:00Well, he still kept having days off, like, without a doctor's note.
00:38:03I mean, you see him in the morning, wincing with pain as the phantom pile drivers went
00:38:09battering into his skull.
00:38:11He said it was somewhat wrong with his stomach, but we all knew what was wrong with him, like.
00:38:15Sometimes he'd disappear for half an hour a more and he'd come back and he'd be all
00:38:18stinking and sick and vomit, you know what I mean?
00:38:20And then he had those two accidents, like, uh, one when he turned over a dumper on a steep
00:38:23gradient, the other the time when he fell down a hoist and broke his
00:38:26arm.
00:38:27I warned him, but he didn't take no notice, like.
00:38:29You warned him?
00:38:30Yes, I said he couldn't keep on drinking like that and get away with it forever.
00:38:33I see, now, did he?
00:38:35Yes, Mr. Farvesty, quite.
00:38:37Mr. Marshall, are you saying you knew Roberts was drinking heavily at this time?
00:38:43Of course I did.
00:38:44I was working with him.
00:38:46I mean, you're not talking to have it for ten odd years without getting to know signs.
00:38:49How much did he drink?
00:38:51It's hard to say, like.
00:38:52You know, if I was with him, like, for any time, for any length of time, like,
00:38:56of an evening, I mean, you'd get through, uh, seven or eight pints easy.
00:39:00As much as that.
00:39:02Well, it's not counting whiskey chasers.
00:39:03And did this happen during the day as well?
00:39:06Like I say, he was always late back from booze at dinner time.
00:39:09Uh, lunch, you mean.
00:39:11That's what I said, dinner time.
00:39:13Yes, and did you warn your employers that they had a heavy drinker on their payroll?
00:39:18Must be joking.
00:39:19I assure you, Mr. Marshall, I am not joking.
00:39:23Why did you not inform your employers what you knew in relation to Roberts' drinking?
00:39:29Well, he'd have got pushed, wouldn't he?
00:39:31Straight up road, no trouble.
00:39:32Hmm, I see.
00:39:33And is this sort of, uh, covering up for drinking at work, uh, normal practice in your occupation,
00:39:40Mr. Marshall?
00:39:41Well, no more than usual, I shouldn't imagine.
00:39:44I mean, I expect you'd get through a fair amount of booze in bar here at dinner time.
00:39:48I mean, like, when you're at Navvy, though, and there's a break, I mean, it's down pie for,
00:39:52a pub for pie and pint, I mean.
00:39:53Ah, yes, I see.
00:39:54Uh, no doubt you'll be able to cover these points during your cross-examination, Mr. Harvesty.
00:40:00I hope I shall.
00:40:01Very well, then, Mr. Griffiths.
00:40:03Now, now, Mr. Marshall, I'd like you to think very carefully about this.
00:40:09Did anybody at, um, Hunter's ever ask you whether you thought, um, Roberts had a, a drinking problem?
00:40:19You mean police-like?
00:40:20No, no, as I said, at Hunter's.
00:40:22I mean, like the foreman or ganger, anybody like that ever ask you if you thought, uh, Roberts was an alcoholic?
00:40:29Alcoholic?
00:40:30No, never.
00:40:31So, no-one actually ever asked you if you thought he had a drinking problem?
00:40:35No, they didn't, but like I said, I wouldn't have told him out any road.
00:40:38Yes, as you say, because you feared he might get dismissed.
00:40:42Yes, I threatened with it.
00:40:43I mean, uh, uh, when, uh, Stan's missus wrote that letter like, and Don, you know, Don Wilkins,
00:40:48the foreman, come across and spoke to Stan, met him do all those tests.
00:40:51He should have seen it.
00:40:53Tests on dumpers, tests on dozers, tests on cranes.
00:40:56It was like Ruddy Olympics.
00:40:56So how did, uh, Mr. Roberts, um, behave after he'd taken these tests?
00:41:03Well, for a couple of weeks he quietened down a bit.
00:41:05Yes, and then what happened?
00:41:07Well, you're back to normal like.
00:41:08And, uh, were you present on this occasion when, um, the complaint was lodged about Roberts,
00:41:15about his drinking?
00:41:16Oh, yes, uh, Lady had come across from Park Lodge and spoke to Don, you know, Don, about
00:41:20something that Stan had got up to.
00:41:22Yes, what was that?
00:41:23Well, Stan had been doing a foreigner for a one night, and he crashed his mechanical excavator
00:41:27into a conker tree.
00:41:28And, uh, was he, uh, drunk at the time?
00:41:32Oh, yes, all over place, uh, according to Lady.
00:41:34And do you know what course of action was taken after this complaint?
00:41:38He's given push, wasn't he?
00:41:40It was dismissed.
00:41:41That's it.
00:41:42Yes, now, Mr. Marshall, can you remember when Roberts was told of his dismissal?
00:41:48Straight away, same day.
00:41:50Yes, the same day as what?
00:41:52The same day as he crashed into overhead wires.
00:41:54Uh, Don Wilkins come across special like, uh, we were working in the morning to give him
00:41:58glad tidings.
00:41:58I see, so, Mr. Wilkins told Roberts of his dismissal in the morning, and at approximately
00:42:053.30 in the afternoon, this fatal accident occurred.
00:42:09That did.
00:42:10So, the line of disciplinary action taken by hunters and culminating in Roberts' dismissal,
00:42:17far from ensuring Mr. Roberts' health, safety, and welfare, in fact precipitated his death.
00:42:24Uh, just one moment, Mr. Marshall.
00:42:31I'd like to, uh, clear up one little point.
00:42:34Oh, shall we?
00:42:35You carry on like.
00:42:37That's very kind of you.
00:42:38When you spoke so eloquently just now of, um, Roberts' wincing with pain as the phantom
00:42:46pile drivers went battering into his skull, you were talking, I assume, of the effects
00:42:52of a perfectly ordinary communal garden hangover, were you not?
00:42:55Yep.
00:42:55Well, the, uh, alcoholic beverages which cons- which caused this hangover were consumed the
00:43:00night or evening before, wouldn't you say?
00:43:02All right, I.
00:43:03So, the signs of a hangover don't prove that a man's been drinking heavily at work during
00:43:09the previous day, do they?
00:43:12Nope.
00:43:12No.
00:43:14Now then, Mr. Marshall, when you were questioned by his honour, you said that on the occasions
00:43:19you drank with Roberts, it was nothing for him to get through seven pints of beer and
00:43:26an unspecified quantity of whiskey chasers of an evening, didn't you?
00:43:30Nope.
00:43:30Well, I didn't say seven pints, seven or eight pints is what I said.
00:43:34Yes, but you did say of an evening and not during the day, did you not, Marshall?
00:43:39All right, I.
00:43:40So, what evidence do you have that Roberts was drinking heavily during the day?
00:43:45Well, like I say, it was always-
00:43:46Well, did he, did he, for example, bring, uh, bottles of beer to work with him to drink
00:43:50during the morning?
00:43:51No, nothing like that, no.
00:43:52Did he carry a hip flask with him to top himself up with whiskey or even brandy in the day?
00:43:57No, I can't remember that, no.
00:43:58And I suppose he didn't send out to the nearest pharmacist for a regular supply of methylated
00:44:02spirits.
00:44:03Nope.
00:44:04So that if Roberts was drinking during his working day, that would just leave the lunch
00:44:09break, wouldn't it?
00:44:10Yep.
00:44:11Yes, how much did he drink then, Mr. Marshall?
00:44:13Well, like I say, I mean, Stan was a bit of a loner-like.
00:44:17He'd, uh, he'd knock off early.
00:44:19He'd go into Fulchester at one of the boosters there and come back late.
00:44:22But you didn't go with him?
00:44:24Nope.
00:44:25So you just assumed that he's spent that time drinking, did you, Mr. Marshall?
00:44:29Well, I didn't think he was feeding birds in park-like.
00:44:31Yes, but you have no proof that Roberts was to spend every lunch break drinking in a pub
00:44:37in Fulchester.
00:44:38Well, like I say, he was always late back and his breath was smelling a booze.
00:44:41Yes, but you couldn't tell whether he'd had too much to drink on those occasions or whether
00:44:45he'd just had a pie and a pint like you or anybody else for that matter.
00:44:49No, all you can say is that he was late back from lunch and his breath smelled of beer.
00:44:55Well, on the other hand, we do know that Roberts was drunk on one occasion, don't we?
00:45:00One afternoon, the afternoon he met his death.
00:45:04On that occasion, there was a special reason for his being drunk, wasn't there?
00:45:09Because it was the morning prior to that afternoon that Roberts had been told of his dismissal.
00:45:13Isn't that so?
00:45:14Aye.
00:45:15Did you speak to Roberts after his dismissal?
00:45:18Yep.
00:45:19Mm-hmm.
00:45:20What sort of mood would you say he was in at that time?
00:45:22He was quite cheerful, really.
00:45:24Oh, he was cheerful.
00:45:25Oh, yes, that was the thing about Stan.
00:45:27I mean, you never knew how he was going to react.
00:45:29He said not to take no notice what Don Wilkins has said.
00:45:33He didn't think Mr Hunter would fire him.
00:45:35Really?
00:45:35He thought he could get him to change his mind before he had to wait, before his notice ran out.
00:45:38Well, now, did he give any indication as to how he was intending to get Mr Hunter to change his mind?
00:45:45Yes, he said he was going to give up drink-like and prove he could do the work of ten men.
00:45:49And then what did he do?
00:45:50Well, he went into Fulchester, like he always did at dinner break, and he come back drunk.
00:45:54Ah, yes.
00:45:55On this particular occasion, he did come back drunk.
00:45:59We do know that.
00:46:00But I put it to you, Mr Marshall, that this was an unusual, possibly exceptional circumstance.
00:46:05Now, when Mrs Roberts wrote her letter to the defendant, there was no instant dismissal of her husband then, was there?
00:46:15Not straight away, no.
00:46:16No, no.
00:46:16There was a test, wasn't there, to see whether he was still fit and competent to continue driving a crane.
00:46:24Did you know that the defendant also suggested that Roberts might consult the company doctor?
00:46:29No, I didn't know that, no.
00:46:31No?
00:46:31And even when the defendant was finally forced to dismiss Roberts, that decision wasn't taken lightly, was it?
00:46:38Not until all reasonably practicable avenues had been explored, one might almost say exhausted,
00:46:45to ensure Roberts' health, safety, and welfare at work.
00:46:50No further questions.
00:46:54Mr Marshall, this dismissal of Roberts, do you think that was the right action for hunters to have taken?
00:47:05Well, right or wrong, I mean, he didn't have no option, did he? Not with two complaints like that.
00:47:08So you think there was no other course of action they could have taken?
00:47:12What like?
00:47:13Well, I don't know, we've heard that Mr Hunter was reasonably, reasonable and practicably suggested that Roberts ought to consult a doctor.
00:47:23And I've also found this leaflet here, I don't know whether you're familiar with it.
00:47:29I noticed that people like Roberts, with that sort of problem, should take compulsory sick leave on full pay to receive medical or psychiatric treatment.
00:47:41Well, I mean, they don't, do they? I mean, if they find out you're drinking, you just give them bootleg.
00:47:45The jury in this case is composed of members of the general public.
00:48:14The Queen against Hunter will be concluded tomorrow in the Crown Court.
00:48:44What is your religion?
00:48:54Church of England.
00:48:55You take the book in your right hand, read what is on the card.
00:48:59I promise before Almighty God to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
00:49:04This is Mr Colin Hunter, proprietor of Albert Hunter and Company Civil Engineers of Fulchester.
00:49:12On November the 28th last year, one of his employees, a crane driver called Stanley Roberts, was electrocuted when the jib of a crane he was driving became entangled with some overhead high voltage wires.
00:49:23A small boy was also killed when he ran to help Roberts.
00:49:27The prosecution claimed that Roberts was drunk at the time of this incident, and that Colin Hunter had twice been warned that Roberts was an alcoholic who was liable to cause accidents.
00:49:37One of these warnings was given in a letter from Mrs Roberts, the widow of the dead crane driver.
00:49:42The prosecution claimed that Colin Hunter did not take sufficient action following these warnings, and he now stands accused of failure to discharge his duty as an employer, as required by the Health and Safety Act of 1974, Section 2, Subsection 1,
00:49:58which provides that it shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety, and welfare at work of all his employees.
00:50:09Did you know Roberts before you received that letter from his wife?
00:50:13Yes, I interviewed him myself when he first joined the firm some five years ago, and I've spoken to him on several occasions since then.
00:50:22We've a family business, and I hope we manage to keep things at work.
00:50:28I found Roberts to be an able workman, even-tempered, seemed to get on very well with his fellow workmates, the sort of man that women might describe as the strong, silent type.
00:50:40Yes, I see.
00:50:42Now, when you read this letter for the first time, what did you think?
00:50:46Well, I thought it must be a case of mistaken identity.
00:50:50Really? How is that?
00:50:51Well, the man described by Mrs Roberts in the letter was nothing like the man known to me as Roberts.
00:50:56Well, did you form any other impressions after you'd read the letter?
00:51:00Yes, I formed the impression that the woman who'd written it must be ill, neurotic, hysterical, something of that nature.
00:51:09Tell us now, if you will, if you took any action after reading the letter.
00:51:13Well, of course I did. There's no ignoring letters like that.
00:51:16We're not the unacceptable face of capitalism at Hunters, you know.
00:51:21We take our responsibility towards our employees very seriously indeed.
00:51:26What action did you take?
00:51:28Well, I got in touch with Wilkins, the general foreman at the Oakwood estate where Roberts was working,
00:51:34and I asked him what the hell was going on out there.
00:51:37What did Wilkins have to say on the matter?
00:51:39Well, he told me that as far as he knew, there was no question of drink connected with Roberts.
00:51:43No?
00:51:44Not at work, at any rate.
00:51:46He said that he was inclined to be somewhat temperamentally unpredictable on occasions,
00:51:51and that he'd been involved in two accidents in the past year or so.
00:51:55Were you satisfied with Mr Wilkins' reply?
00:51:58No, I was not.
00:51:59I told him I wanted Roberts brought in to see me at the double.
00:52:02Well, I wanted to find out what had happened to this man since I last saw him.
00:52:06Did you notice any change in him?
00:52:08No, not a bit of it.
00:52:09I showed him his wife's letter.
00:52:11He laughed.
00:52:12He said it was all a load of nonsense.
00:52:14He said he thought it was part of his wife's campaign to get him to leave Hunters for a job elsewhere.
00:52:20What else was said?
00:52:22Well, we had quite a heart-to-heart chat after that.
00:52:26And I explained to him that I got nothing against drink as such, and that what he did in his own private life was entirely his affair.
00:52:34I did suggest, however, that he might see the company doctor, if it would help put his wife's mind at rest about what she seemed to regard as a drinking problem.
00:52:43I then told him that, as he had a very bad work record, absenteeism, bad timekeeping, etc., I was going to arrange for him to take a test to make sure that he was still a proficient plant operator.
00:52:57I then asked him if he was fully familiar with the company's policy statement on safety.
00:53:04Now, what is that exactly, Mr Wilkins?
00:53:06Oh, that's a small booklet we have printed.
00:53:08I think I've got one here somewhere.
00:53:11Yes, here we are.
00:53:14We've had a lot of these run off.
00:53:16Safety precautions in civil engineering, a handbook for all employees of Albert Hunter and Company.
00:53:23Now, every employee was issued with a copy of this, and I made it quite clear to Roberts that if there was any contravention of this code of safety practice,
00:53:33he'd find himself down at the Labour Exchange faster than you could say Anthony Wedgwood been.
00:53:38How did he take all this?
00:53:41Oh, he took it quite calmly.
00:53:41Well, he said that he'd take my advice, that he would consult someone, and that he was very happy working for Hunters.
00:53:49I then asked him if he thought it was necessary for me to reply to his wife's letter.
00:53:54He said no.
00:53:55Well, he'd deal with that matter himself.
00:53:58Then we had a cigarette, a glass of port, discussed the fortunes of Forchester Rovers and this year's cup.
00:54:05He was a fine fullback, you know.
00:54:07Marshall was quite right on that point.
00:54:09Then we shook hands, and off he went.
00:54:13I subsequently heard that he passed the test quite satisfactorily.
00:54:17But did you hear anything else about Roberts after that?
00:54:21Oh, indeed, yes.
00:54:22Last November, Wilkins informed me that a lady by the name of Mrs. Proctor had complained that Roberts had damaged a tree of hers with a mechanical excavator, and that he was drunk at the time.
00:54:33And did you take any action?
00:54:35Yes, I told Wilkins to dismiss him immediately, with whatever period of notice, of course, was customary.
00:54:41Did you have any doubts about dismissing Roberts at all?
00:54:44No, I felt that I'd bent over backwards to help the man, that he'd betrayed my trust in him, and as far as I was concerned, that was the end of the matter.
00:54:53But you were satisfied, were you, that you had fulfilled your duty as an employer towards Roberts' health and safety at work?
00:55:01Oh, yes.
00:55:02My conscience is entirely clear on that point.
00:55:05In fact, if I may just read this to you.
00:55:07Is my learned friend intending to introduce this booklet as an exhibit, Your Honour?
00:55:15Are you, Mr. Harvesting?
00:55:17It was not my intention, Your Honour, but I suppose if Mr. Hunter wishes to refer to it...
00:55:22Well, in any event, I might like to just glance at it for a couple of moments.
00:55:26Are there any copies, Mr. Harvesting?
00:55:29One moment.
00:55:30Do we have a copy?
00:55:32I'm sure you want this as well.
00:55:34I'd simply want to glance at it.
00:55:36I'm sorry, Mr. Hunter.
00:55:39Please continue.
00:55:40Thank you, Your Honour.
00:55:41The very first paragraph in our company's policy statement on safety gives some idea of my own personal view on this very important subject.
00:55:51Albert Hunter Ltd. regard with great seriousness the requirement under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act that it shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as it is reasonably practicable, so far as it is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.
00:56:13Mr. Hunter, thank you.
00:56:15Mr. Hunter, can you finish with the book?
00:56:17Now, Mr. Hunter, I've got various scribblings and pamphlets and notes here that I...
00:56:37If you'll bear with me, Mr. Hunter, seem to have got in a bit of a mess, we'll take them as they come, shall we?
00:56:48All roads lead to Rome, as they say.
00:56:52Now, you must forgive me for asking such a naive question to begin with, but in your experience, have you ever had any accidents on your firm as a result from drunkenness or alcoholism?
00:57:09As a matter of policy, there's an investigation of all accidents which take place at Hunter's, and apart from this one instance, there hasn't yet been an occasion where drink has been found to be a contributory factor.
00:57:22Jolly good.
00:57:24Now, you're probably aware of various press reports on alcoholism in Great Britain.
00:57:30The numbers range from some 400,000 to 500,000.
00:57:37And you'll probably agree with me that not all alcoholics are dirty little tramps drinking cheap red biddy.
00:57:46I mean, quite a lot of them are in full-time employment, yes?
00:57:49Some of them, perhaps, yes.
00:57:50More than some, Mr. Hunter, I assure you.
00:57:52I've got a leaflet here, the annual report of the Merseyside-Lancashire-Cheshire Council on Alcoholism.
00:58:01And this gives a list of various occupations and professions of some 3,000 alcoholics that have come along to these people for help.
00:58:10Now, this list is absolutely enormous.
00:58:12I mean, there's people like doctors, solicitors, airline pilots, train drivers, labourers, nurses.
00:58:23Strangely enough, Your Honour, there's no judges or barristers on this list.
00:58:28We must be thankful for small masses, mustn't we, Mr. Griffith?
00:58:31Yes, indeed, Your Honour.
00:58:32I do notice, however, in a back copy of the Times, there's a little headline that says,
00:58:37Doctor tells of judges with drink troubles.
00:58:40Do you read the Times, Mr. Hunter?
00:58:43Yes, I do.
00:58:44And do you remember reading the Times on the 22nd of September last?
00:58:49Oh, probably. I can't say definitely.
00:58:52And do you remember reading an article on alcoholism that, from one sample of alcoholics,
00:58:5870% of them were in full-time employment?
00:59:02Yes, I do remember reading that, as a matter of fact.
00:59:04Perhaps you'll also remember that 11% of those alcoholics were certain that drinking had been entirely responsible for accidents at work.
00:59:15Yes, I believe there was something to that effect in the report.
00:59:18Yes.
00:59:18And in spite of this fact, Mr. Hunter, you still maintain that you've had no previous accidents with your firm as a result from drunkenness.
00:59:28No, we haven't.
00:59:29Well, Mr. Hunter, how on earth can you be sure of this?
00:59:34Well, short of giving a breathalyzer test to anyone involved in an accident, and catch the unions wearing that one incidentally,
00:59:41you can't be absolutely sure, can you?
00:59:43No, unless somebody dies after an accident and there's traces of alcohol in the bloodstream,
00:59:49and it's all a bit late, isn't it?
00:59:51See, this is my problem, Mr. Hunter.
00:59:55Here you are, a man sufficiently concerned with safety within his firm that he brings out this pretty little red booklet,
01:00:04and yet, you receive a letter from the wife of one of your employees asking for help and warning you that her husband is an alcoholic,
01:00:15and this doesn't ring any bells in your safety-conscious brain?
01:00:19Well, of course it does.
01:00:20I took the matter very seriously indeed.
01:00:23I made all the inquiries I thought fit and proper.
01:00:26What, you called your foreman in and asked him what was going on?
01:00:29That's right.
01:00:30And you didn't think it necessary to check with any of Robert's workmates?
01:00:34No, I always deal with matters of discipline and work through employees in a supervisory position.
01:00:40I see. So the inquiries you thought fit and proper amount solely and simply to you just having a little chat with your foreman, Mr. Wilkins.
01:00:49I also called for Robert's work record from personnel, and I spoke to the man himself, don't forget.
01:00:54Ah, yes. Now, this work record. Does absenteeism bother you at all, Mr. Hunter?
01:01:00Absenteeism?
01:01:00Yes, I believe a few moments ago you said that Robert's drinking was not affecting his work.
01:01:06Well, I mean, surely it was affecting his work. He wasn't turning up for it, was he?
01:01:12On some occasions, no, I grant you that.
01:01:14But that was mainly Monday morning absenteeism, and I'm afraid that's something most firms find they have to live with.
01:01:20Mr. Hunter, perhaps you'll also grant me that this occasion of absenteeism might have been a very good reason to go and have a little chat with Mrs. Roberts.
01:01:28No.
01:01:28Well, you could have talked to her about her husband's drinking problems at home.
01:01:32No, I disagree.
01:01:33But plainly, it was affecting the productivity of your firm.
01:01:37I mean, don't you have some kind of responsibility to your shareholders?
01:01:42We've a family business, Your Honour. We don't have shareholders.
01:01:45Oh, well, you're bank manager, then.
01:01:47No, I don't think so.
01:01:48Well, you must remember that when Roberts was playing rugby, he was often away from work due to injury.
01:01:55Now, I'm not a Stalinist dictator.
01:01:57I can't tell a man what he should do in his spare time.
01:02:00I can't say, you shouldn't drink, you shouldn't play rugby.
01:02:03Might affect my productivity.
01:02:06I mean, where would it all end?
01:02:07Oh, Mr. Hunter, come on.
01:02:09I mean, no one's accusing you of being a Stalinist dictator.
01:02:13What we are concerned with here today is whether you took the action required of you by law as an employer, aren't we?
01:02:23Yes.
01:02:23Yes. Now, to this end, Mr. Hunter, I may be wrong, often am.
01:02:29I made a little note earlier that your counsel in cross-examining Mrs. Roberts claims that you went through Roberts' work record with a fine tooth comb.
01:02:41Did you do that?
01:02:42Yes. I went through it very thoroughly.
01:02:45I see. And did you have this work record in front of you when you were interviewing Roberts?
01:02:50I did.
01:02:51And were these two accidents that he was involved in mentioned in the report?
01:02:54They were indeed.
01:02:55And was his bad timekeeping?
01:02:57Yes.
01:02:58And were there reasons given for the absenteeism at all?
01:03:01There's always some sort of reason, isn't there?
01:03:04Well, in this case, Mr. Hunter, was there a reason?
01:03:06Er, some sort of stomach trouble, if I remember correctly.
01:03:09I see. And you knew from your talk with the foreman that Roberts was inclined to be somewhat temperamentally unpredictable.
01:03:17That was another factor, of course.
01:03:18Yes. And you also knew from Mrs. Roberts' letter that there was a great deal of trouble at home.
01:03:23Yes.
01:03:24I've got a leaflet here which is put out by the Fulchester Council on Alcoholism, the Alcoholic in Employment.
01:03:33And it contains a list of symptoms by which employers might recognise the possibility of one of their employees either being or becoming an alcoholic.
01:03:42And featured prominently on this list are these items.
01:03:48Absenteeism, stomach trouble, overlong lunch breaks, accidents at work, changeable or depressed moods, and marital difficulties.
01:04:01Are you familiar with this publication, Mr. Hunter?
01:04:03No, no.
01:04:06But I was led to believe that you are a trustee of the Fulchester Council for Social Services.
01:04:11Yes, I am.
01:04:12And does not that Council for Social Services put a lot of money into the Fulchester Council on Alcoholism?
01:04:19Yes, but you must remember that copies of publications from organisations that we fund aren't always automatically sent to trustees.
01:04:26Are they not?
01:04:28I'd suggest another possibility to you, Mr. Hunter.
01:04:31I'd suggest that this leaflet was probably sent to you.
01:04:34But because you were so convinced that you had no alcoholics on your books at your firm,
01:04:38you probably afforded this leaflet a cursory glance and filed it carefully away in the wastepaper basket.
01:04:46I doubt if that would have happened.
01:04:49Well, having read out those items to you, Mr. Hunter,
01:04:51perhaps you'd agree with me that you might not possibly be the best person in the world
01:04:57to judge whether one of your employees was or was not an alcoholic.
01:05:02I did suggest to Roberts that he should consult the company doctor.
01:05:05Just a suggestion.
01:05:06Well, you can't force a man to see a doctor against his will.
01:05:10You could have made it a condition of his continual employment that he seek medical advice, couldn't you?
01:05:16Unless you have pretty positive evidence that the man was an alcoholic,
01:05:20you'd have great difficulties getting that one past the union as well.
01:05:22Oh, so many difficulties, Mr. Hunter, and all of them insuperable.
01:05:27Is that it?
01:05:28What do you mean?
01:05:29Look, in your view, it wasn't a reasonably practicable step to consult Mrs. Roberts
01:05:35because she'd written you an hysterical letter,
01:05:38a letter which Roberts regarded as a load of nonsense.
01:05:40It wasn't a reasonably practicable step to consult Roberts' workfellows
01:05:45because they'd only lie and cover up for him.
01:05:48And you'd also heard from your foreman
01:05:50that there was no drink troubles with Roberts at work.
01:05:53And now you're trying to tell me
01:05:54it wasn't a reasonably practicable step to send him off to see a doctor
01:05:58because of union difficulties.
01:06:02Oh, it must be terribly tough at the top, Mr. Hunter.
01:06:07I was concerned, above all, for the safety of Roberts
01:06:10and the safety of his fellow workmates.
01:06:12I warned him that any contravention of this code of safety practice
01:06:17would result in disciplinary action being taken.
01:06:20Alcoholism is a sickness.
01:06:22How can you possibly treat a sick man with disciplinary action?
01:06:27Do you not agree you should have gone further
01:06:28to carry out your obligations under the law
01:06:32for the welfare, the safety, and the health of one of your employees?
01:06:39Indeed, yes, and that is why I made absolutely certain
01:06:42by means of a strenuous proficiency test
01:06:44that Roberts was fit and competent to carry on work as a crane driver.
01:06:48Yes, but, Mr. Hunter, I mean, this is the problem with alcoholics.
01:06:52That chap might have dried out to take your tests.
01:06:55I mean, what would have happened the next day
01:06:56or the next week or the next month?
01:06:58Oh, that's a hypothetical question, I'm afraid.
01:07:00Exactly, Mr. Hunter, and that is why I put it to you.
01:07:02You did not take all reasonably practical steps to protect that worker.
01:07:08You should have tested the hypothesis
01:07:10that Roberts might have been an alcoholic.
01:07:12You've been warned on two occasions.
01:07:15Are you seriously suggesting
01:07:17that I should keep an eye on all my employees
01:07:20just in case some of them might turn out to be alcoholics?
01:07:24What I'm suggesting, Mr. Hunter, is this.
01:07:26This booklet which you brought out, which, try as I might,
01:07:30I can find no information whatsoever
01:07:32about the possible dangers of people drinking at work,
01:07:36should have been combined with this leaflet,
01:07:39The Alcoholic in Employment.
01:07:41Because it is only if your firm has a policy
01:07:45for the health and welfare of alcoholics
01:07:47that we can be certain you also have a policy
01:07:50for the safety of them in that respect.
01:07:52Your Honour, I think what is now being suggested
01:07:54is somewhat idealistic and speculative, to say the least.
01:07:59In business, we have to deal with what is reasonably practicable
01:08:02within the course of everyday working possibilities.
01:08:07Within that context, I can only say
01:08:09I did everything in my power to help Roberts.
01:08:12Did you, Mr. Hunter?
01:08:14His dismissal didn't help him over much, did it?
01:08:17A few hours after you gave him the push,
01:08:19he was dead, wasn't he?
01:08:20And an innocent child was killed at the same time.
01:08:24Members of the jury,
01:08:36in nearly all criminal cases,
01:08:39the burden of proof is on the prosecution.
01:08:41But in cases of this sort,
01:08:45Parliament has specifically provided
01:08:48that the burden of proof is on the defence.
01:08:51Now, the prosecution case is
01:08:55that the accused should have taken the matter more seriously
01:08:58when he received Mrs. Roberts' letter
01:09:01alleging that the deceased was an alcoholic
01:09:04whose drinking might cause an accident at work.
01:09:08The prosecution say
01:09:09that having regard to the deceased's overall work record,
01:09:15he should not have accepted so readily
01:09:18the deceased's explanation
01:09:20or the site foreman's assessment,
01:09:24that he should have made sure
01:09:26that other employees were questioned about the deceased,
01:09:30that he should have put more pressure on the deceased
01:09:34to consult the company doctor,
01:09:35and lastly,
01:09:36that he should have taken the trouble
01:09:39to see Mrs. Roberts.
01:09:43The defence, on the other hand,
01:09:46say that having regard to Roberts' explanation
01:09:50and the information given by the foreman,
01:09:53the accused took all reasonably practicable steps
01:09:59to ensure that the deceased was fit and competent
01:10:03to pursue his normal employment,
01:10:05and that he cannot be criticised
01:10:08for deciding not to pry in the deceased's private life.
01:10:15Now, having considered these points,
01:10:19you must now decide whether the defence has proved,
01:10:23on the balance of probabilities
01:10:26that the steps taken by the accused
01:10:30when he received Mrs. Roberts' letter
01:10:33were in fact all the steps
01:10:37that were reasonably practicable
01:10:40in the circumstances.
01:10:43Will you now retire,
01:10:47elect a foreman to speak for you
01:10:48when you return,
01:10:49and consider your verdict?
01:10:53Austria!
01:11:02Now, foreman, please stand.
01:11:05Now, just to answer this question,
01:11:06yes or no,
01:11:07have you reached a verdict
01:11:08upon which you are all agreed?
01:11:10Yes.
01:11:11And do you find the defendant,
01:11:13Colin Hunter, guilty or not guilty?
01:11:16Not guilty.
01:11:19Colin Hunter, you are free to go.
01:11:24Well, we'll be here for you.
01:11:32Come on.
01:11:33All right, let's stay.
01:11:43Right.
01:11:46Bye.
01:11:47Bye.
01:11:47Bye.
01:11:50Bye.
01:11:51Bye.
01:11:51Bye.
01:11:51Bye.
01:11:52Bye.
01:11:53Bye.