Fresh Rosepark charges dismissed

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The owners of a nursing home where 14 residents died in a fire have again had charges against them dismissed.

Lord Matthews threw out the case against Thomas Balmer, his wife Anne and son Alan after hearing legal arguments at the High Court in Glasgow.

They were charged with 17 health and safety offences relating to the fire at Uddingston, Lanarkshire, in 2004.

The judge ruled they could not be held responsible as the Rosepark Care Home firm they ran had now been dissolved.

The Balmers could have each faced up to two years in jail had they been convicted of the health and safety breaches.

The charges they faced ran from between 1 April 1996 until the day of the fire on 31 January 2004.

'Blocked' exits

They included allegations that there was a failure to maintain an "adequate or effective system or strategy for fire safety" at Rosepark.

It was claimed that fire exits on one occasion in 2000 were obstructed by mattresses, an organ, a hoist and a wheelchair.

A new fire alarm was installed a few days before the fire, but it was alleged staff were not instructed how to use it.

There was also an allegation that there was a failure to prepare a personal emergency plan for each resident and to ensure that residents who could not be evacuated were adequately protected in accommodation that could resist smoke and fire

However, Lord Matthews said it was "fatal" to the case that the Balmers had been indicted as the surviving partners of the now dissolved firm.

He said: "That is only intelligible as being yet another attempt to indict the dissolved firm.

"The prosecutor was driven to accept that was the case and he was right to do so. That is fatal to this indictment.

"Even if that concession was wrong and this is truly an attempt somehow to convene the partners, it is, in my opinion, inept."

The surviving partners are not in law liable for the criminal acts of the firm, assuming there were any Lord Matthews

He added: "The surviving partners are not in law liable for the criminal acts of the firm assuming there were any, which is a matter I cannot comment on."

Lord Matthews said it was in the public interest for the Crown to attempt to prosecute if it can, but the law did not allow it to do so in the form chosen in this case.

He said: "It may be that this is a matter which might usefully be considered by the Scottish Law Commission or the Scottish Parliament."

Lord Matthews granted the Crown the right to appeal his decision.

The Balmers, who live in Bothwell, made no comment as they left court.

Victims' relatives were angered by the decision. One man shouted that it was "a disgrace" and a "legal loophole".

The Crown had brought fresh charges against the family after a previous case against them was dismissed in 2007 on a legal technicality.

The second attempt to indict the trio was then dismissed last July after a ruling that a case against Rosepark Care Home - the name of the family-run company at the time of the incident - could not proceed because the firm had since been dissolved.

Croftbank House Limited, which was formerly known as Balmer Care Homes Limited, still face 14 breaches of health, safety and fire regulations.

These charges run from between 6 April 1997 and 11 October 2006.

They include allegations that employees were not trained adequately in fire safety and that fire drills were not carried out on a regular basis.

The case against the company will call again next month.