Plumber sentenced after gas leak deaths

the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday.

Ross Fontana, 27, of Stevenage, London, who is living at Dornock

Crescent, Kirkcaldy, was earlier found guilty after trial of the

culpable homicide of Mr Derren Easton, 18, and Mr John Davie, 22, in a

flat in Cupar, Fife, by recklessly failing to provide flues for the

removal of fumes and failing properly to secure a living room heater to

the wall.

Poisonous carbon monoxide fumes produced at the heater, which became

detached from the wall, were inhaled by the two men.

The case had been continued until yesterday for social background

reports from the High Court in Kirkcaldy where a jury last month

returned majoirty verdict at the end of a seven day trial.

During the trial the court was told that Fontana had taken the word of

the main contractor that the chimney of the flat had been swept.

He admitted that he did not look up the chimney to check if the

chimney was clear, and accepted that had he done so he would have seen

it was blocked by a plaster board box installed by a joiner to prevent

rubble falling down the crumbling chimney.

Gas experts said that Fontana should have carried out a series of

tests using a smoke pellet to check the chiminey's capacity for removing

dangerous fumes.

Mr Douglas Small, defence counsel, said: ''These proceedings have

caused him considerable anxiety. The consequences of what happened have

been tragic not just for the families of the two dead men but for Mr

Fontana and his wife, Elaine.

''Mr Fontana is only too acutely aware of the consequences of his

negligence. He has expressed sincere regret and horror at the

consequences of his action.''

Fontana appeared before the trial Judge, Lord Mayfield, yesterday for

sentence.

Lord Mayfield told him: ''You have been found guilty of the culpable

homicide and that verdict was based on your gross negligence amounting

to criminal conduct by fitting a gas fire with the result that two young

men tragically died from the escape of poisonous fumes.

''This will serve as a reminder to all involved in the handling and

fitting of gas appliances that extreme care is necessary.''

The Judge said that, in consider ing what sentence to impose, it was

clear any punishment would not console the parents in their grievous

loss.

Fontanta had no criminal record and was a first offender. Lord

Mayfield said that until now he had been a hard working young man who

had carried out work satisfactorily with no indication of previous

negligence.

The Judge added: ''You have had this charge hanging over you for a

year. You will have to live in the knowledge that you were responsible

for what happened.''

That, and other matters, led him to the conclusion that it was not

necessary for the protection of the public that a custodial sentence be

imposed.

The Judge said he had listened carefully about Fontana's proposals to

emigrate to Australia.

''In my view the appropriate sen tence is to make an order for

community service and that is what I intend to do. You will require to

perform certain unpaid work in the community for 240 hours in the next

12 months.''

Fontanta told the Judge he was willing to comply with the community

service order.

His solicitor Ramsay MacInnes stated: ''Mr Fontana is very relieved at

the sentence. He is very distressed by the deaths of the two men. All he

wants to do now is to start a new life and he wants to improve his

knowledge of plumbing.''

At present Fontana was working as a pipe fitter on an oil rig in the

Firth of Tay.

Outside the court there were angry scenes as Fontana's friends and

relatives tried to prevent cameramen from filming him as he left the

building.