Olivia Burt: Student's crush death was 'senseless and avoidable'

Olivia Burt was crushed as she waited to enter a Durham nightclub

The death of a student who was killed as she queued outside a nightclub was "senseless and avoidable", a court has heard.

Olivia Burt, 20, suffered head injuries when a barrier fell on her at Missoula in Durham in February 2018.

Venue operator Stonegate Pub Company is accused of failing to ensure customer safety on the night Miss Burt died.

On Tuesday, the jury at Teesside Crown Court was directed to clear the firm on three other charges.

The court heard a crowd had gathered outside the venue on a Wednesday evening as students waited to enter.

'Standing with friends'

Jamie Hill KC, summarising the prosecution case brought by Durham County Council, said it was "difficult to understand how it is that a 20-year-old woman could die in such a senseless and avoidable way".

"All she was doing was standing with her friends, waiting to get in to a club which had targeted the student population as a way of filling their venue."

He described Miss Burt, from Milford on Sea, Hampshire, as "an innocent woman doing nothing wrong and who deserved to be kept safe".

The jury was told: "She deserved to be protected by a large organisation that had a lot of written policies.

"But the reality is that as soon as the venue, which had become the first choice venue for students on a Wednesday night, was confronted with more customers than they could accommodate within their own set limits, all of the planning and all the risk assessments came to nought."

Mr Hill said staff could have moved the crowd away and told them there would be a delay in getting in, but instead "they just queued them up and let the numbers swell".

Death was a 'tragedy'

The screen which fatally injured Miss Burt had first fallen shortly after 23:15 BST and was lifted back into place, the court was told.

Mr Hill said "it was entirely foreseeable it could go again", which it did about 30 minutes later, killing the first-year student.

Olivia Burt was a keen sailor and member of the University of Durham team

Prashant Popat KC, defending Stonegate, described the case as a "tragedy", adding: "It is absolutely extraordinary that a young life could be lost whilst doing something so ordinary.

"The fact that a tragedy occurred does not mean the defendant must have committed a crime."

Mr Popat said Stonegate could not have reasonably done more and had hired Phoenix Security, "one of the best in the business", to manage customers waiting to get in.

Judge Howard Crowson told the jury it must be sure the decorative screen was being used as a barrier, that it was not designed to be used that way and that a risk arose from Stonegate's activity.

The jury has begun it deliberations.