05/01/2011 - Fireworks boss jailed over payout
An employer has been jailed after he failed to pay compensation to a worker who was blinded during a fireworks display.
Chris Hignell, 53, was left with horrific injuries when a professional grade mortar went off in his face at the show in 2008. He underwent 19 surgical procedures and 75 hospital visits for reconstructive surgery after his face was disfigured in the blast.
Display organiser Jason Edgecombe, of Northcote Road in Mangotsfield, was ordered to pay £5,000 to Mr Hignell in September after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety regulations and fraudulently using false insurance certificates for his firm JWP Fireworks.
Edgecombe, 30, was given a 36-week prison sentence suspended for two years and was banned from organising or working at firework displays.
He failed to pay a £200 instalment of the compensation by the end of October, triggering a demand for payment of the full amount. He then failed to appear at Bristol Crown Court on December 21 in relation to another alleged breach of his suspended sentence.
Edgecombe was arrested in Mangotsfield on December 28. He was sentenced at Bristol Magistrates' Court to 88 days in prison for failing to pay compensation.
Copyright © Press Association 2011
Related links
|
