The UK's biggest pub company has been fined more than £1.5million after a student was crushed to death outside of one of their bars.
Olivia Burt, 20, lost her life when a decorative screen outside of Missoula in Durham fell to the ground. The Durham University student had been queuing to get into the former venue on Walkergate at the time.
Teesside Crown Court heard how there was a surge of people and she fell through a panel in the heavy screen. A section of the screen, and a number of customers, then fell on top of her on February 7, 2018.
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Olivia, from Milford on Sea, Hampshire, sustained fatal head injuries and could not be saved.
The court in Middlesbrough heard how the screen had already fallen down earlier in the night, before Olivia and her friends arrived. It had been lifted back into place with the assistance of the assistant manager.
On Thursday afternoon, Stonegate Pub Company, which owned the venue, was found guilty of a single health and safety breach. The charge relates to the screen falling earlier in the evening and being put back into place.
Judge Howard Crowson has now fined the business £1.56 million and ordered them to pay court costs of £225,774.26 to Durham County Council, who prosecuted the case.
The judge said: "My sentence does not attempt to measure the worth of Olivia's life. Olivia's life is, of course, priceless."
During the sentencing hearing on Friday afternoon, the court heard how the business has a a turnover of up to £1 billion.
Judge Crowson said the company's approach was to argue that it was the people, and not the screen, which was the risk. He said: "I find that a hard argument to accept. Once the screen had fallen there was an obvious risk that it could do so again."
He told the court how the screen was there as decoration and was not intended for crowd control or crowd management. However on the night, people had began queuing alongside it.
The judge said: "It's clear that everyone in that queue was exposed to the risk of at least serious harm, most of Olivia's friends fell as well."
Olivia was in her first year of studying natural sciences at Durham University and was a member of the sailing club. She had purchased a wristband for a student night for sports teams, called Game Over, which was being held at Missoula that night.
During the trial, the jury heard how a large number of people arrived at the venue and those in the queue, who had purchased wristbands for priority entry, had been "losing their patience".
Three Durham University students, who had been standing in the queue, told the court how they noticed Olivia was seriously injured after they fell down with the screen.
Prior to the sentencing, Olivia's heartbroken parents Paula and Nigel Burt, both read out an emotional victim impact statements in which they paid tribute to their only child.
Paula said: "Olivia was, and still is, the most important person in my life. Although no one is perfect, Olivia was perfect for us. Olivia was everything I wanted and hoped for in a child. She was my best friend.
"Without Olivia, my heart is now broken and nothing will ever mend it. I'm still in disbelief about what's happened. How could this be allowed to happen? I'm living in an never ending nightmare."
Nigel said: "Olivia was amazing, I wish you could have met her. She was beautiful inside and out. She had the most incredible smile."
They both said Olivia had been taken from them in the "cruellest way possible" and slammed Stonegate Pub Group for breaching health and safety.
Paula: "We have been robbed of the most wonderful daughter and any grandchildren. It's a sad fact there has been no apology from Stonegate during this trial."
Nigel added: "During the course of the investigation we have had to fight every step of the way to secure justice and accountability for Olivia."
Prashant Popat, defending, apologised on behalf of Stonegate Pub Company. He told the court: "Stonegate should have done more to ensure people were not standing alongside the screen."
Stonegate Pub Company initially faced four charges but were cleared of three of them following a ruling by the judge.
