Gas death builder's jail term cut

A builder jailed for manslaughter over the death of a customer from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a blocked chimney has had his sentence cut.

David Johnson, 56, from Ipswich, was convicted of the manslaughter of mechanic Robert Schenker, 31, in April.

Mr Schenker at his home in Peterborough after Johnson allowed debris to block a boiler flue in the chimney.

Judges reduced the sentence by one year to two-and-a-half years and called the original sentence "excessive".

'Positive qualities'

Lord Justice Griffith Williams said Johnson had been a respected roofer who could not be described as a "cowboy builder" but he had taken a series of shortcuts which led to the flue blockage.

He said: "This showed not only laziness but a callous indifference to the fate his customer might suffer.

"He deliberately and knowingly exposed the deceased to the risk of death from carbon monoxide poisoning."

Lord Justice Williams said the three-and-a-half-year sentence was excessive as it did not take into account the positive qualities of the defendant whose general workmanship was not substandard.

The judges also took into account the fact that the boiler had not been properly serviced and no-one was aware that the flue did not have a safety debris trap which would have prevented the blockage.

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