THE Crown Prosecution Service has admitted making mistakes in the case of scrapyard worker Mark Wright, who died after an explosion at Deeside Metals, Saltney in 2005.
In a statement, the CPS said that on three occasions their lawyers had misapplied the law and advised no action against scrapyard manager Robert Roberts, of Golftyn Drive, Connah’s Quay.
A final review of the evidence by the Special Crime Division in June 2009 decided that charges of gross negligence manslaughter were appropriate.
However, the trial judge at a preliminary hearing in February this year dismissed the manslaughter charge - partly because he concluded a prosecution for manslaughter would then amount to an abuse of process and partly because he also concluded there was insufficient evidence to enable a jury to convict on that offence.
A CPS spokesperson said: “The reviewing lawyer met with Dorothy Wright, Mark’s mother, to apologise for the earlier errors and the subsequent delay.”
Roberts eventually pleaded guilty to a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £10,000 at Caernarfon Crown Court on December 13.
Dorothy Wright said: “My son and his family will never now be granted the justice of a full trial for manslaughter and corporate manslaughter.
“I am now grieving for my son, but I will climb through it to carry on fighting for justice for families like mine.”
