MILLIONAIRE property developer Mike Holland and his foreman have been jailed after the manslaughter of a carpenter.

The 69-year-old businessman and his foreman, Grant Oakes, 46, were this morning sentenced to nine months for manslaughter after a number of health and safety failings.

Holland will also have to pay £35,000 in costs and Oakes will pay £10,000.

David Clark, 55, died after he sustained serious head injuries from falling through a first floor void while working on Holland’s Stanmer Park Stables in September 2014.

Holland, of King’s Road, Brighton, and Oakes, of Elm Drive, Hove, were both found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence after a re-trial in June.

Before the trial Holland and his company Cherrywood Investments admitted culpability for two other health and safety offences.

Holland’s company was fined £180,000, reduced to £120,000 due to an early guilty plea.

The businessman pleaded guilty to consenting to or conniving in a failure to discharge his duty attributable to neglect under health and safety laws. The company, now known as Threadneedle Estates, also admitted responsibility for failure to discharge a duty.

Mr Clark’s fiancée Beverley Clark Holland and Oakes had been warned their building site was dangerous a year before the death, prosecutor Thomas Kark told the court during the trial.

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 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.

Mr Clark's fiance Beverley Clark said: "These two men had a duty of care to a man that 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.

"Dave was not just a name, not just a statistic - like I feel he has been portrayed in this case. He was real. He was my partner, my love, my rock. He was a loving and devoted granddad. He was a caring and supportive father. He was a true friend to so many people and always put others needs and concerns before his own. Dave died too soon in what I feel were totally unnecessary and unfair circumstances. His loss will be felt forever.

"Nothing will bring my Dave back. Nothing will heal my broken heart or make my life worth living again. But if this awful experience I have had to go through, reliving it all again and again daily in court, means it highlights the dangers and stops other families having to suffer the heartache and loss that we suffer daily, then I can take a little peace from this knowledge.

"The only good that can come out of all this, is if it stops even one single company from cutting corners to earn a few extra pounds in profit. It should make individual people stop and think, “No I’m not taking that risk, not even if it means losing my job” because you can get another job. You cannot get another life."

Detective Inspector Mick Jones, of Sussex Police, said: "Dave Clark went to work that fateful morning in 2014 and his partner Beverley had every right to expect him to return. However the unsafe conditions on that building site on which numerous men were working, particularly those working at height, meant that it wasn’t to be. 

"I hope that these convictions send a strong message to those within the construction industry that the safety of those working on sites should be of paramount importance. Where this is not the case, the Health and Safety Executive and police will tenaciously pursue them and bring them to justice.

"People often blame health and safety for stopping people doing everyday things but the whole reason is to prevent serious injury and death like the tragic death of Dave Clark. I hope this sends message that are real consequences of a blatent disregard for the wellbeing of their workers."