East Sussex: Father and son appeal convictions over fireworks explosion
Two firefighters died in the blast near Lewes in 2006
A father and son who were jailed 15 years ago following an explosion at a fireworks factory are bringing a challenge against their convictions at the Court of Appeal.
Martin Winter and his son, Nathan, were found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in 2009 after two firemen died and 20 other people were injured in the blast at Marlie Farm in Shortgate, near Lewes, East Sussex, on December 3 2006.
Martin Winter, who ran a fireworks firm at the site, was handed a seven-year jail term while his son was sentenced to five years, later reduced to four, following a five-week trial.
Lawyers representing the pair have now argued that evidence of what caused the explosion was "too limited", in a case brought forward by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Michael Birnbaum KC told the Court of Appeal in London on Tuesday that it was unclear whether a particularly dangerous firework, known as HG1, had been inside the container where the blast occurred.
A letter from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), known as a circular, concluding that another type of firework, a "rook scarer", identified at the site could also cause such explosions could have been disclosed before the trial started, Mr Birnbaum said.
Jurors at the trial in 2009 heard that Martin and Nathan Winter were grossly negligent by knowing an unlicensed metal container packed with fireworks could explode if a fire broke out.
It was thought at the time of the incident that HG1 fireworks were the only kind capable of causing such a blast and it was not known that "rook scarers" had mass explosive potential, the court heard.
Mr Birnbaum said the contents of the container "must be treated as conjecture" because no record was kept of what police had removed from the site following the explosion.
He added: "The evidence was too limited to enable anyone to say with scientific certainty what had caused that explosion."
Richard Matthews KC, representing prosecutors, said the jury's conclusions on Martin and Nathan Winter were "inescapable" because the firm ignored the terms of its licence by storing HG1 fireworks when they were not permitted to do so.
Mr Birnbaum said the HSE's inability to share a circular about the dangers of "rook scarer" fireworks when research was completed before the trial was "a major failure of disclosure".
Mr Matthews said the matters featured in cross-examination with the Crown's witnesses, adding: "It was fully explored at trial, and none of it could impact upon the panoply of other evidence concerning those HG1 fireworks."
Firefighter Geoff Wicker, 49, and support officer Brian Wembridge, 63, died in the explosion at Winter family's Festival Fireworks UK site at Marlie Farm in Shortgate.
The company was convicted of two health and safety breaches in connection with the blast and was fined Ă‚ÂŁ30,000.
Martin and Nathan Winter had an initial appeal application against their sentences and convictions dismissed in March 2010.
A High Court ruling in July 2013 found East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service had also been negligent in the incident and were ordered to pay damages to the families of those affected.
Lord Justice William Davis, sitting with Mrs Justice McGowan and Mrs Justice Cockerill, will hand down a decision on the appeal in writing at a later date.