Multitude of errors linked to hotel gas death

A "perfect storm" of factors relating to ventilation and unsealed ducting allowed poisonous gases to rise into a Co Cork hotel room where a woman died, the defence lawyer for a plumber on trial for manslaughter claimed yesterday.

Richard Davis, aged 46, Serenity, Killanully, Ballygarvan, Co Cork, is on trial for the manslaughter of Miriam Reidy and two breaches of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

His company, Davis Heating and Plumbing Contractors, of Marina Commercial Park in Cork, is charged with two similar breaches of the safety act relating to the conversion of a gas boiler at the Trident Hotel, Kinsale, on January 4, 2011. All charges are denied.