HSE v Cotterell: John Cooper persuaded the Court of no case to answer
HSE v Paul Cotterell, Preston Crown Court, 4 March 2014, HHJ Baker
John Cooper successfully persuaded the court to entertain a submission of no case to answer at the conclusion of the defendant’s case.
The application was described by the judge as very unusual but proper. The case concerned the responsibility of a Director under Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in a CDM project where an employee died at the Odeon Cinema in Preston in 2010.
The jury were directed to return Not Guilty verdicts on Day 7 of the trial.