Man housed workers in 'dangerous' derelict office
GoogleA man who housed nine workers in his "derelict and dangerous" office block, where a fire could have been fatal, has been fined £48,000.
Firefighters found exit doors were sealed shut and the alarm system disconnected at Ridgemount House in Peterlee when they made an emergency visit in response to reports of people living there in October 2022, Durham Crown Court heard.
A group of men working on repairing another of Tarlochan Singh's buildings were "camping out" on the third floor of the block in an arson hotspot, the court heard.
Singh, 48 and from Coventry, admitted eight fire safety breaches. He must also pay almost £46,000 in costs. He faces being jailed if he does not pay within 12 months.
A watch manager from County Durham and Darlington Fire Rescue Service visited the building on Bede Way with police officers on the evening of 6 October, prosecutor Ros Scott-Bell said.
They found one of the building's door shutters was up and were able to make contact with a man inside, the court heard, before finding eight others sleeping on makeshift beds made from chairs and blankets in offices on the third floor.
'Chose to take risk'
The officials found the building's alarm system was totally disconnected from any power supply and many fire doors were open, which in the event of a blaze could have allowed the flames to spread and block off potential exit routes, the court heard.
Exit routes were completely dark, a fire door had been bolted shut with a metal sheet across it, the only available door needed a key to open it and there was clutter in multiple areas, which could have acted as fuel to a fire or as obstacles for those trying to escape, the court was told.
The prosecutor said it was an area with high anti-social behaviour levels and arson, with 10 fires deliberately set within 100m of the office block in the preceding 10 months.
The risk of a fire in the area was "serious" and anyone in the building could have suffered "serious injury or death", Scott-Bell said.
Singh knew both the state of the building and the workers, many of whom had been smoking inside, were being housed there, the court heard.
"He must have seen the risk but chose to take it," Scott-Bell said.
When Singh arrived at the building, he claimed he did not know people were sleeping inside and refused to give his details, the court heard.
'Mendacious and deceptive'
Judge Joanne Kidd said the building was "fundamentally derelict" and no-one could have thought it was a safe place for people to live.
She said the men were "camping out" in the "derelict and dangerous" building because Singh was trying to reduce his expenses.
"The real likelihood is if there had been a fire in or outside that building, the nine men would have been very much at risk of not being able to get out," the judge said.
She said the two companies linked to the property had been closed during prosecution proceedings and Singh had sought to "obfuscate" his real financial position to "deliberately deceive" the court over the amount of fine he could afford to pay.
She said he lived in a £1.6m house, could afford expensive lawyers and many of his children attended private school, yet he claimed he had no money.
The judge said Singh had been "mendacious from the outset", but his barrister said his home and the education of his children was being covered by "family generosity".
Singh was given 12 months to pay his fine and costs, totalling almost £94,000, or he would be jailed for a year.
