PSNI fined over fatal gate crushing

A £30,000 fine was imposed on the Office of the Northern Ireland Chief Constable today over the crushing to death of a man between police station gates.

Kieran Connolly (28) was killed by the sliding vehicle barriers at the base in his home town of Strabane, Co Tyrone.

He had been trapped after chasing another man into the station in March 2003, Belfast Crown Court was told.

Imposing the fine, a judge said more should have be done to fix faults in the system following a similar incident months earlier where an officer was injured as the gates shut.

The chief constable's office had pleaded guilty to a single count of failing to take reasonable care of visitors to the workplace.

Mr Connolly had gone into the station with others when a security guard opened the gates to rescue a man being hunted by a crowd in the town.

He tried to retreat after a control button was pressed that closed the shutters, but even though the guard hit rubber safety edges, they kept shutting.

A health and safety executive investigation later discovered wiring that controlled the gates had been tampered with. Although it was never established who did the tampering or when it took place, it meant safety devices installed were bypassed.