David Willis death: Wolverhampton waste manager guilty of shredder death

David Willis was reported missing on 15 September 2018

A waste disposal firm manager has been found guilty of manslaughter after a worker was crushed to death in an industrial shredder.

The remains of David Willis, 29, were never found after he fell into the machine at Timmins Waste Services (TWS), in Wolverhampton, in 2018.

Brian Timmins was operating the equipment on the day and was accused of "systemic failures" during his trial.

The jury found TWS guilty of corporate manslaughter.

They could not reach a verdict on a charge of perverting the course of justice levelled at Timmins.

There were sobs and gasps from the public gallery as the verdicts were returned on Wednesday.

It is thought Mr Willis's remains, which have never been found, were contained in waste taken to Poplars Landfill site

Timmins, of Fair Lawn, Albrighton, in Shropshire, was operating the shredder when it stopped and used a digger to lift Mr Willis up on top of it, prosecutor Christine Agnew KC told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The prosecutor said CCTV evidence showed the machine was still on at the time but should have been turned off.

CCTV showed the labourer working inside it while waste material continued to be processed and, when Mr Willis disappeared, Timmins was seen looking around the yard and inside the shredder before calling his phone, she said.

The next day, Timmins and other employees loaded and disposed of 80 tonnes of recycled waste by taking it to a landfill site in Staffordshire.

The waste was believed to have contained Mr Willis's remains, the court heard.

West Midlands Police carried out a lengthy search at the landfill site after reviewing CCTV at TWS

Mr Willis's mother Caroline reported him missing on the evening of 15 September when he did not return home to Tipton and called Timmins just before 23:00 BST to ask if he had seen him.

Ms Agnew said the worker's mother had been told by Timmins that he had not seen him since the morning when he had "left and walked up the road".

'Truly, exceptionally bad'

Police went to the yard on 17 September and, after checking CCTV, started a lengthy search of Poplars Landfill Site in Cannock.

Part of a tabard that may have belonged to him was discovered.

The court was told Mr Timmins conduct "fell far below what would be expected of a reasonable and competent person in his position and was truly, exceptionally bad".

It was also the prosecution's case that Timmins "knew that Mr Willis had died in the shredder; he knew that some sort of criminal investigation or judicial proceedings were inevitable and he took active steps to interfere with evidence and to conceal the facts of the death".

Timmins, who was granted unconditional bail, and TWS will be sentenced at a later date.

A decision is yet to be made on a retrial on the perverting the course of justice charge.