Plumber jailed after boiler jilled millionaire's daughter - Telegraph.co.uk

A jury at Bristol Crown Court convicted Hartley of Zoe's manslaughter by gross negligence following a two week trial in March.

His Honour Judge Neil Ford QC sentenced sobbing Hartley to three years for manslaughter by gross negligence and one year to run concurrently for breaching gas safety regulations.

Judge Ford said: "There was absolutely no malicious or hostile intentions in this case

"You knew the potential dangers of a carbon monoxide leak.

"You knew, of course, that carbon monoxide is insidious gas that can overwhelm people before they are able to appreciate any danger.

"When you left the site you believed that the flue was correctly fitted but it was not connected to the turret elbow.

"Leaving the flue unconnected created a clearly foreseeable risk to life and amounted to criminal negligence.

"The quality of work fell below your normal high standards.

"Zoe was a young and talented woman with a full and fruitful life ahead of her.

"There is no self pity at all in your approach to this tragedy but you are acutely aware of the suffering that you have inflicted on others and acutely aware that the suffering of the Anderson family is the greatest of all.

"Your sense of guilty can properly be characterised as overwhelming."

The court previously heard Hartley admitted "forgetting" to secure the boiler with screws during the £2,000 job - for which he never received payment for - on December 16 2010.

A jury found him guilty of Zoe's manslaughter by a majority verdict of 10-2 following a two week trial at the court.

Hartley's shoddy work meant fumes were pumped into the exclusive town house in Bath, Somerset, instead of being diverted up the flue pipe.

Tests found the boiler's flue pipe had not been properly attached to the turret elbow - with a gap of 22mm between them.

Further investigations discovered a route from a waste pipe in the garage - where the boiler was situated - to the vanity unit underneath the basin in the bathroom.

Zoe had flown to New York to see her father on the day before the fitting and returned a week later to spend Christmas with her mother and two sisters in the Lake District.

She returned to the property on December 27 and made plans to meet a friend at 8pm the next day - but failed to show and could not be contacted.

On December 29, her boyfriend Alastair Uhlig (corr) travelled from London to meet Zoe and used a spare set of keys to enter the house when he could not get hold of her.

He discovered the pretty blonde slumped on the toilet of the shower room and attempted to revive her - but she was already dead.

James Townsend, prosecuting, said: "It is obvious what effect the death has had on the Anderson family."

Michael Fitton, defending, said Hartley had 20 years of experience in the gas industry and a previously unblemished record.

He said that Hartley had closed his plumbing business solvent after borrowing £20,000 from his parents, following the tragedy.

Zoe's family - including father-of-three Chris and mother Lucy Evans, an artist - were not present in court to watch as the sentence was passed down.

Mr Anderson, who quit Future Publishing in 2001 and now runs organisation TED, had previously taken to the court's witness box during Hartley's trial.

He proudly told the jury how his eldest daughter had been days away from flying out to New York to start her "dream" placement with internet firm Foursquare.

Hartley's wife and two family friends sobbed in court as Hartley was led to begin his sentence.