Man who caused deadly Heysham gas blast was selfish, engineer says

Two-year-old George Hinds died in the blast in Heysham in May 2021

The engineer who investigated a gas explosion which killed a two-year-old has said he was "glad" the "ignorant, selfish" man who caused it was jailed.

Darren Greenham admitted the manslaughter of his young neighbour George Hinds in Heysham, Lancashire, and was sentenced to 15 years in 2022.

Steve Critchlow, who helped secure the conviction, said he felt "desperately sorry" for George's family.

He said they "suffered unbelievable pain through no fault of their own".

Mr Critchlow, who was recently named Engineer of the Year at the National Gas Industry Awards, was speaking as part of the Health and Safety Executive's Gas Safety Week.

He said the investigation into the explosion on 16 May 2021, which destroyed the council-owned property on Mallowdale Avenue where Greenham lived and left two neighbouring terraced houses severely damaged, had been a "very emotionally taxing and high profile case".

Mr Critchlow spent a week at the site investigating the explosion

The Buxton-based engineer spent a week at the site investigating the explosion, which also affected a further 55 properties in the area.

He said Greenham had been "ignorant, selfish and reckless" when he cut a gas pipe to sell it for scrap and he was glad that he "received a prison sentence reflecting all of that".

"I feel desperately sorry for [George's] family who have suffered unbelievable pain through no fault of their own," he said.

At Greenham's sentencing in 2022, George's mother Vicki Studholme told the court he had been a "neighbour from hell" who made her feel unsafe.

She said being trapped in the rubble after the blast had been "the most scared I had ever been in my life", but her fear had then grown when she was told George had died.

George's father Stephen Hinds added that "by Darren Greenham cutting a gas pipe to make a few quid, I have lost my son, my absolute world".

Mr Critchlow also investigated the gas explosion in Shaw in 2012, which killed two-year-old Jamie Heaton

Mr Critchlow said the gas industry had "a good safety record underpinned by trained engineers", but the case was a good example of how things "can go very wrong if the gas system isn't maintained or is worked on by unqualified people".

"They should always seek the services of a Gas Safe registered engineer," he said.

Mr Critchlow also investigated the 2012 explosion in Shaw, Oldham, which killed two-year-old Jamie Heaton, and the carbon monoxide poisoning of Annette Coe who died in Ipswich in the same year.

He said he received a card from Ms Coe's family, in which they said how they appreciated what he had done to find out what happened to the 71-year-old.

He said he "kept that card because that is kind of the motivation every time".

"[That's] why I jump up out of my seat and drive around the country to attend these tragic incidents," he added.