‘Tragic and preventable’: Venue owners jailed after woman fell to her death at illegal event
UNLICENSED EVENT: The entrance to Local Studios in Witham. Pictures by Hull City Council
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
The owners of a nightclub-style venue in Witham have been jailed after a young woman died after falling from a first-floor smoking area and through the roof of a neighbouring business.
Jaime Jones-Knight, 24, was seriously injured in the incident at Local Studios at 81 Witham in April 2022 and died in hospital nearly a month later.
Following Ms Jones-Knight’s death, an investigation was carried out by officers from Hull City Council’s Public Protection team and Humberside Police. During the investigation, owners Connor Joseph Gibbs and Connor Reece Dukes failed to supply documents requested, including:
Details of any relevant risk assessments, method statements, operating schedule or similar, that were in place at the time of the accident;
Details of any inspections and checks, or other monitoring systems that were in place at the time of the accident;
Details of any relevant staff training records.
Before the accident, in February 2022, a licensing officer visited the venue and Gibbs informed him it was to be used as a recording studio and for events. At the time of the visit, Gibbs was aware such events needed to be licensed, and planned to use Temporary Event Notices (TENs) as an interim measure.
Two TENs were submitted by Gibbs under the name of Connor Dukes for events scheduled before the accident. However, no TENs were received for the event that took place on April 8, 2022.
‘ABSENCE OF STAFF OR SECURITY PERSONNEL’: Inside the venue
A CCTV camera trained on the smoking area showed only a small part of it near the entrance, and did not extend to the external wall where Ms Jones-Knight fell. The footage showed the area was not staffed or monitored, despite being used by large numbers of those in the venue.
A further camera focussed on the “busy” dancefloor also revealed an absence of staff or security personnel.
Gibbs, 28, formerly of Horbury Avenue, Hull, and Dukes, 31, formerly of Beamsley Way, Hull, both pleaded guilty to offences under Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
They were sentenced at Hull Crown Court on April 17 with Gibbs being jailed for 10 months and Dukes for 12 months.
Speaking after the sentencing, Rachel Stephenson, Head of Public Protection at the council, said: “This case concerned the tragic and preventable death of a young woman who had her whole life ahead of her.
“On the night of this incident, Dukes and Gibbs were knowingly hosting an unlicensed – and therefore illegal – event. Any reasonable risk assessment of the premises would have identified the risk to members of the public, but they had failed to carry these out and so failed to put any safety measure in place.
“Their breaches of health and safety legislation, which is there for the protection of everyone, meant that Jamie Jones-Knight lost her life. It was important that this prosecution was pursued, to secure justice for her, and her family. All those involved offer our sincere condolences to her loved ones”.