Ben Compton QC & Paul Rogers in tiger killing case

Ben Compton QC and Paul Rogers defend South Lakes Safari Zoo Limited and David Gill, its sole director, in the tiger killing case involving a 24 year old zoo handler, Sarah McClay.

Both company and director originally faced a 14 count indictment alleging widespread systemic failures in relation to the running of the tiger house.

However, following successful negotiations, the prosecution agreed to drop all counts (seven in total) including four s.37 allegations against David Gill and the company pleaded on a prepared and limited basis to a section 2 and 3 offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The section 2 offence concerned failings in the zoo’s risk assessment to have a suitable and sufficient maintenance regime in respect of one of the internal tiger house doors which was open at the time of the attack. The section 3 offence likewise concerned the failure of the zoo’s risk assessment to sufficiently address he risks of a big cat escaping from the internal area into the public domain.

Following lengthy mitigation, the case was finally concluded on Friday 9th June when Mr Justice Turner sentenced the zoo to a fine of f255,000 payable over 10 years.

A recent press release is available here.

News 14 Jun, 2016