MILLIONAIRE property developer Mike Holland will be sentenced for the death of carpenter David Clark in September.

Holland, 69, and his foreman, Grant Oakes, 46, were due to be sentenced for manslaughter last Friday but the court put the date back until the autumn.

Their trial, which ended in June, heard Holland and Oakes had been warned their building site at Stanmer House was dangerous a year before the death.

A health and safety inspector turned up unannounced in September 2013 and found “extremely poor standards” for work being carried out at height.

The pair were put on notice to make it a safer place to work but a year later Mr Clark, of Dyke Road Avenue, Hove, suffered his fatal fall.

Holland’s company, Cherrywood Investments Limited, was converting the building into eight homes.

He employed Mr Clark and fellow carpenter Andrew Cooper.

Health and Safety Executive inspector Denis Bodger raised concerns when he visited and he issued six improvement and prohibition notices to Holland and Oakes, with one specifically about the first floor of the stable block.

He also warned the way in which the work was carried out meant people were in danger of falling through unprotected openings in floors.

Oakes was told to complete health and safety training, part of which focused on rules to protect those working at height.

He failed the training course exam.

In 2014, Mr Clark and Mr Cooper started work on the east wing and on September 30, Mr Clark fell 15ft on to a concrete floor.

A scaffolding board he used to bridge the gap over another first floor stairway snapped beneath him.

The court heard that Holland had initially tried to blame Mr Clark when questioned by police.

Holland, of King’s Road, Brighton, and Oakes, of Elm Drive, Hove, were both found guilty of manslaughter due to gross negligence.

Speaking after the guilty verdict at Lewes Crown Court, Mr Clark’s fiancee Beverley Clark said: “These two men had a duty of care to a man who worked for them. That man was my fiancé, that man went to work one morning and never came home again as a result of an accident that should never have occurred. Nothing will bring my Dave back. Nothing will heal my broken heart or make my life worth living again.”