Health and safety charges brought against Stonegate following student death
Durham County Council has brought health and safety charges against Stonegate Pub Company following the death of Olivia Burt four years ago.
Burt, 20, from Milford on Sea, was a first-year student studying Natural Sciences at Durham University. She died when a metal barrier that she and her friends were queuing alongside collapsed outside Missoula nightclub in Durham city centre on 7 February 2018. Stonegate Pub Company owned the site.
Her parents, Nigel and Paula Burt, said: "We welcome the decision by Durham County Council to charge Stonegate Pub Company with four health and safety offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Four long years after Olivia's death, we now await the outcome of the health and safety prosecution. We do not understand how our only child died on a night out with friends."
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) previously investigated criminal charges of gross negligence and corporate manslaughter following Olivia's death. However, the CPS confirmed on 3 September 2020 that there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.
A spokesperson for Stonegate Group said "Due to ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to comment at this time."
Nigel and Paula Burt are represented by partner Anna-Louise Thwaites of Bindmans. They have founded a charity, Olivia Inspires, to help disadvantaged young people in the New Forest.
