Fire service spent £150k pursuing prosecutions

Cheshire Fire and Rescue service spent more than £150,000 pursing prosecutions against companies after a fire at a retirement complex, before a trial collapsed earlier this month.

A BBC Freedom of Information request revealed the service spent a total of £151,778 up to the date of the start of the trial.

Beechmere retirement village, which was home to around 150 residents, was destroyed by a fire in August 2019.

The service said: "We have a statutory duty to enforce the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and hold a specific budget reserve to fund prosecutions such as this."

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service initially pursued six firms, but action against two of them was subsequently dropped.

The trial against the remaining four began earlier this month, but the fire service said it had "regrettably" decided to withdraw its prosecutions.

At the time, chief fire officer Alex Waller said: "Following extensive legal submissions heard over the first two days of the trial, unfortunately it became clear this morning that there would be no realistic prospect of securing convictions."

Around 150 people, many who were elderly or vulnerable, were left homeless by the fire and lost their possessions. Nobody was injured.

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