A landlord who put students at risk by breaching fire safety regulations has been given a suspended nine-month jail sentence.
Property developer, Robert Price, 52, was also ordered to pay £40,000 in fines and costs at Leicester Crown Court. The fines and costs must be paid within four months with the jail sentence suspended for 12 months. Price pleaded guilty to three fire safety offences at an earlier hearing at Leicester Magistrates’ Court but was committed to Leicester Crown Court for sentencing because of the seriousness of the offences.
Fire officers were tipped off by a member of the public and found that the accommodation had serious fire safety failings.
A prohibition notice was issued to prevent it from being used. The site was re-visited by fire officers and was found to be in use, in breach of the prohibition notice.
A second defendant, Craig Derrick, the site foreman, pleaded guilty to one offence and was ordered to pay £5,015 in fines and costs on 22 June 2012 by Leicester Magistrates Court for breaching a fire safety prohibition notice.