Daniel Watton received a suspended prison sentence after 24-year-old Connor Lambert died in an electrocution at a Cheshire house on July 29, 2024. Lambert was moving a ladder near overhead power lines when he came into contact with electricity. The sentence follows the Health and Safety Executive’s findings that the work was not planned or carried out safely.
Connor Lambert and July 29, 2024
Lambert was a trainee painter from Market Drayton and was expecting his first child with Megan McCann when he died. She said: "Connor was amazing. He had the cheekiest grin and would light up any room he was in – he was so funny. He was a caring person who always put everyone else first. He was very ambitious and he was an avid Arsenal fan. He went to loads of matches with my father and brother. He was a happy person who loved family life."
McCann also said: "We had been trying for our own family for three years and he was over the moon when we found out I was pregnant. He never missed a midwife appointment and was elated when we found out we were having a baby girl. We had been on the phone talking the morning he died – I had just taken delivery of a Moses basket and I was heavily pregnant at 32 weeks."
HSE findings on the work
The HSE said Lambert had been moving a fully extended ladder with a colleague at the gable end of the property when the ladder either touched an overhead power line or came close enough for an electrical arc to form. His colleague suffered burns to his hands, feet, and stomach. The investigation found the work at height had not been properly planned, supervised, or carried out safely, and that the equipment and methods used were unsuitable for the task.
The HSE also said the risks of working near overhead power lines had not been adequately assessed or controlled, and it identified problems with the training and competence of those doing the work. The original plan called for a tower scaffold and ladders to paint the exterior of the property, including an area with a glass canopy, but ladders were used throughout instead. Watton approved that ladder-only method.
Craig West on the death
Craig West said: "This experience has changed me, my emotions, my temperament and my outlook on life. I'm agitated regularly and can become angry easily. I have lost the spring in my step and no longer have the drive I once had and work now has become a chore. After the findings of the inquest I find Connor's accident even more tragic as it should have so easily been avoided. I do hold people respo"
For Lambert’s family, the sentence closes the criminal case but leaves the central issue unchanged: a task near power lines was carried out with the wrong equipment and the wrong method. The key unanswered point is the exact suspended term and any conditions attached to it.
