Newry council and Lagan Construction fined over death of Matthew Campbell during storm

The family of a young man killed at work in 2018 tell UTV that their lives have been ripped by apart by his loss.

Matthew Campbell's father said they were living a life sentence.

"It never ends, every day it is like this It has changed our dynamics of our relationship and our family," he told UTV.

A council and a construction firm have been fined over the death of the 24-year-old electrical engineer on September 19, 2018. He was working as an electrical engineer at Slieve Gullion Park and during a weather warning.

He was fatally injured by a 200-year-old beech tree which became uprooted by strong winds. A colleague of Matthew's was seriously injured. Matthew had been working for Lagan Construction. In previous court appearances - Newry Mourne and Down District Council which owns Slieve Gullion Park - and Lagan Construction had admitted to a charge of failing to make an appropriate risk assessment. The council pleaded guilty to a further charge of failing to ensure , so far as reasonably practicable, health and safety of its employees and non-employees. Today at Newry Crown court, Judge Paul Ramsey described Matthew’s death as a “monumental tragedy”.

He said it “only happened because two independent culpabilities came together”.

He also said it could possibly be described as a “freak accident" .... which "could have – and should have – been avoided".

He handed down a fine of £20,000 to Newry, Mourne and Down District council while Lagan Construction were given a fine of £30,000. His father, Mark told UTV: "The size of the fines never mattered, it wasn’t what this was about, it was getting our son’s death investigated.

"Matthew would have been 30 this year... it's a big year for anybody It's still going to be a big year for us although he’s not here. It’s good to see the court has put things in place to prevent things like this happening again. In a statement Lagan Construction said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic accident that resulted in the loss of our colleague, Matthew. Matthew and his family will always be in our thoughts Newry, Mourne and Down council acknowledged failings in its health and safety processes and has taken action to rectify this.

"We accept that our words of condolence and today’s fine cannot heal the pain of losing a much-loved son, brother and fiancé."

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