Zoo's death fine cut

An Indian elephant, like this one, killed the keeper

Managers of a wildlife park have won an appeal to reduce the level of fines imposed following the death of a keeper.

Port Lympne Wildlife Park was originally ordered to pay £43,500, which included costs, after keeper Darren Cockrill was crushed to death by an elephant.

But at Maidstone Crown Court on Monday, the actual fine was reduced from £28,500 to £10,000.

Park owners Port Lympne Estates Ltd however, still have to meet the £15,000 court costs.

In June this year, bosses of the Kent park pleaded guilty to three breaches of health and safety regulations.

Darren Cockrill's body was found by a fellow keeper

They were prosecuted by Shepway District Council, following the death of the 27-year-old keeper, in February 2000.

During the case in June 2001, Folkestone magistrates' court was told Mr Cockrill had been left alone in the elephant enclosure on 7 February 2000.

Prosecutors said La Petite, the Indian elephant that killed him, had already crushed a keeper's legs in Austria, his previous home.

Following the accident, a fellow keeper discovered Mr Cockrill's body, and also found blood on the elephant's trunk.

His death came in the same year that park owner John Aspinall died.

He was the fifth keeper to die at one of Mr Aspinall's parks over a 20-year period.

Speaking outside the court after the appeal verdict on Monday, Mr Aspinall's half brother James Osborne said he was pleased with the result.

The company director and chairman of John Aspinall Foundation said: "My view is this should never have been brought in the first place.

Charitable foundation

"This does not help Darren who was tragically killed. It just reduces funds to no great purpose.

"I have not personally spoken to Mr Cockrill's family because essentially it was not about Darren."

Speaking for Port Lympne, Roger Henderson, QC, said a prompt guilty plea, no previous convictions and the documentary nature of the health and safety failures did not deserve such a high fine.

He told the court: "It is the trading limb of the John Aspinall Foundation, a loss-making charity dedicated to the conservation and protection of rare and endangered species.

"It can afford to pay fines but it will reduce the extent to which the charity can carry on its good works."

The company will not however, have to pay the court costs involved in the appeal hearing.