Crime claim over 1930s pit blast

Crowds gathered to hear news of loved ones after the blast

Mining bosses should have been prosecuted for manslaughter over the 1934 Gresford Colliery disaster, a former senior police officer claims.

In Tuesday's episode of Crimesolver, former chief superintendent Gerry Toms examines the tragedy which killed 266 miners near Wrexham.

The BBC Wales programme asks serious questions about conditions in the pit.

Mr Toms said: "A greater value was placed on profits than men's lives. In 1934, life really was cheap".

The small community was robbed of an entire generation of working men when an explosion ripped through the mine on 22 September, 1934.

The bodies of the dead have never been recovered, and the catastrophe remains one of the coal industry's worst disasters.

A subsequent inquiry and court case only found the mine's management guilty of inadequate record-keeping.

But Mr Toms said in the programme: "Some believe these men were the victims of greed and yet no one has been charged with their manslaughter.

This is a tragic tale of corporate greed and indifference to the real dangers that faced the men in that mine Presenter Gerry Toms

"It's death on a horrific scale."

The disaster struck at a time of great depression, and many of the Gresford miners worked double shifts simply to make ends meet.

Coal mines at the time were thought to be 10 times more dangerous than modern pits, and miners had a one in seven chance of injury.

Mr Toms described the owners as "ruthless" after seeing a payslip issued for one dead miner, Humphrey Jones.

The document showed he was paid for only five and three-quarter days because he died at 2am in the explosion.

Mr Toms said the mine's owners - the Dennis family - signed over all responsibility for safety to the manager William Bonsall under the 1911 Mines Act.

Bonsall denied any knowledge of ventilation problems faced with the miners underground.

But during the programme, Mr Toms found testimony from mine surveyor Idris Cuffin, who was supposedly told by Bonsall to record false ventilation readings prior to the explosion.

A memorial was unveiled in 1982

Toms says: "Bonsall wasn't just negligent, he was acting criminally. He did not want to keep the ventilation records because they were unsafe.

"They should have been charged with manslaughter."

The programme also says that agent John Hurrup was the mine's third biggest shareholder.

Mine agents were supposed to be objective and act as a buffer between the professional running of the mine and the commercial interests of the owners.

Toms believes Hurrup's large interest in the mine implicates the owners too.

He says: "They must have known about the gas conditions under ground."

He added: "This is a tragic tale of corporate greed and indifference to the real dangers that faced the men in that mine.

"Ultimately it was the responsibility of the mine's owners and the management to ensure the conditions in Gresford were safe to work in and in that duty they failed."

Crimesolver: Buried Truth is on BBC 1 Wales at 2235 BST on Tuesday.