Worker crushed and killed by shredder, court hears

David Willis was reported missing by his mum iafter failing to return from work

A man was crushed in seconds after falling into an industrial shredder at a waste disposal firm, a court has heard.

David Willis, 29, died while working in a machine at Timmins Waste Services (TWS) in Wolverhampton in 2018. His remains have not been found.

Yard manager Brian Timmins, 54, who was operating the machine when Mr Willis died, denies manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

TWS denies corporate manslaughter.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Mr Willis's remains were never found after he fell inside the diesel-powered machine at the Mander Street site.

Jurors were told Mr Timmins, of Fair Lawn, Albrighton, in Shropshire, was operating the shredder when it stopped.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC said he approached it to investigate and then used a digger to lift Mr Willis up on top of it.

CCTV evidence showed the labourer working inside it while waste material continued to be ejected, she said.

When Mr Willis disappeared inside the machine, Ms Agnew described how Mr Timmins was seen looking around the yard and inside the shredder, before calling the labourer's phone.

Ms Agnew said: "He is almost certainly looking for Mr Willis. He must realise at that point that Mr Willis has fallen inside the shredder."

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

Ms Agnew said this must have included the remains of Mr Willis.

Mr Willis died at Timmins Waste Services on 15 September 2018, the court heard

Jurors were told Mr Willis's mother Caroline reported him missing on the evening of 15 September when he did not return home to Tipton.

She called Mr Timmins just before 23:00 BST to ask if he had seen him, and he said words to the effect that he had not seen him since the morning when he left and walked up the road.

When police went to the yard on 17 September their CCTV review prompted the landfill search, where part of a tabard that may have belonged to Mr Willis was discovered.

Ms Agnew said the prosecution asserted Mr Willis would not have died had "basic industry-standard safety precautions been in place".

"In particular the prosecution say that the failure by Brian Timmins to isolate and lock off the shredder, having used the digger himself to place Mr Willis within a position of danger, was directly causative of Mr Willis's death," she added.

Ms Agnew said Mr Timmins, who is on bail, had accepted he consented to or connived at the company's failure to ensure the health and safety of its employees.

But he did not accept his actions were negligent or caused Mr Willis's death, she added, or that he was "aware of what he had done".

His actions afterwards were "designed to cover up his behaviour and pervert the course of justice", she added.

The trial, in front of Mr Justice Jacobs, is scheduled to last four weeks.