Norwich gate crush death: Robert Churchyard jailed and firm fined

A workman has been jailed after a heavy metal gate he fitted fell on a woman outside her house.

Jill Lunn, 56, suffered a heart attack while pinned under the driveway gate in Blofield Heath, near Norwich, in 2013.

Robert Churchyard, 52, of Turner Road in Norwich, denied manslaughter by gross negligence but was found guilty at Norwich Crown Court.

He was given a 42-month prison sentence and his employer, Automated Garage Doors and Gates, was fined £12,000.

The court heard Churchyard had fitted the gate, which weighed about a third of a tonne, at Mrs Lunn's home.

The jury was told the gate was designed to be operated both automatically and manually, but it fell because safety-stop devices were not fitted to prevent it sliding off a steel track on the ground when opened by hand.

When the remote-controlled mechanism failed, the court heard, Mrs Lunn pulled the gate open and it fell on her.

Churchyard had claimed it was not him but Mrs Lunn's family which had removed the stop. This was rejected by the jury.

At a separate trial last year, Churchyard was found guilty of breaching health and safety rules.

Churchyard, who chose not to give evidence during the trial, worked for Automated Garage Doors and Gates, in Burnet Road, Norwich.

The company admitted three counts of failing to comply with a requirement under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) regulations at an earlier hearing.

After the sentencing, Det Sgt Darren Reade said: "Jill's death should never have happened.

"If Churchyard had undertaken all the safety work expected of him then she would have been protected from the gate breaking in such a way.

"By claiming that the family themselves had removed the stop he lied about fitting, he caused further distress to her family."