Wall which fell onto Bristol builder hadn't fully set, inquest hears

Gary Anstey was a husband, father and grandfather

A wall which fell onto a builder may have collapsed because tonnes of stone were placed against it before it had fully set, an inquest heard.

Gary Anstey died after a wall he was working on at a primary school near Bath collapsed on 19 March 2019.

Fellow H Mealing & Sons employee, Roger Jefferies, was backfilling the wall with stone to provide drainage, before it fell, the jury inquest heard.

Mr Anstey, 57, from Bristol, was airlifted to hospital where he died.

The inquest heard a newly-constructed retaining wall needs at least seven days to set and reach its full strength before it can be safely backfilled.

However, this guidance was not followed, and the Swainswick Primary School wall was backfilled days before the minimum expected waiting period, the jury heard.

Mr Anstey died the day after the wall collapsed onto him, aged 57

Coroner Nicholas Lane asked site supervisor, Adrian Williams, whether it was his decision to backfill the wall.

"Did you decide to do it early, in an attempt to speed up the job?" he said.

Mr Williams exercised his right to silence and didn't answer the questions presented to him on Tuesday but his statement to police from 3 April 2019 was read to the jury on Wednesday.

It said 10 tonnes of granular stone were delivered to the site on the morning of 19 March, 2019.

The construction project took place at Swainswick Primary School

"I was mixing concrete and passing it to Mr Anstey, who was filling in the cavities on the inside of the wall, whilst Mr Jefferies was meant to be using a digger to transfer stone to create a new path," the statement said.

"I instructed Mr Jefferies to use the stone to make a path. It was his decision to start backfilling the wall with it, I didn't know he was doing it, if I had known, I would have stopped him."

Mr Williams said the wall then collapsed and he heard a scream coming from the rubble.

The inquest heard how he ran over and immediately began pulling away bricks in an attempt to free Mr Anstey, who was trapped.

Mr Anstey was eventually pulled out from the rubble by his colleagues and airlifted to Southmead Hospital in Bristol but died the following day.

The inquest at Ashton Court Mansion is expected to finish on Friday

Mr Jefferies has since died from bowel cancer but the court heard the statement which he made to the Health and Safety Executive on 8 April 2019.

In the statement, he said he had known and worked with Mr Anstey for around 16 years and said they were "long-term friends".

He said he had little experience or knowledge of building walls and was following the advice of Mr Williams.

"He told me to continue backfilling the day it collapsed, I didn't have any concerns that it would fall," he said.

"I had no idea that it was dangerous or that Mr Anstey was on the other side of the wall."

The inquest continues.