A former manager on the Estate of a Tory Peer denies manslaughter, after two young workers lost their lives, having been sent to retrieve apples from a storage unit with less than one percent oxygen.

The events occurred on the Blackmoor Estate in Hampshire in February 2013. The Estate belongs to the Earl of Selborne.

In a hearing at Winchester Crown Court, Andrew Stocker (57), the men’s manager, denied sending Ashley Clarke (24) and Scott Cain (23) to their deaths. The pair were killed whilst attempting to retrieve fruit for a prestigious horticultural competition.

This week, Mr Stocker told the Court that he did not fully appreciate the risk posed by the storage unit, where apples were stored in an atmosphere of nitrogen, though he admitted that his behaviour had been “negligent.”

In a hearing last week, the court heard that Mr Stocker had “encouraged” a practice referred to as “Scuba diving”, whereby employees held their breath whilst looking for the best apple specimens in storage.  

Though Mr Stocker was on holiday in the Maldives when the deaths occurred, Clarke and Cain are understood to have been asked to retrieve fruit for the Marden Fruit Show in Kent before he left. The prosecution claims that the employees were “encouraged” to enter the unit without breathing apparatus.

One of the men is thought to have entered the unit through a hatch in the roof to search for apples, and the other to have entered later to help his colleague when the first ran into trouble. The pair were found unconscious after fellow workers became concerned when they did not report back.

The deaths were investigated by police and the Health and Safety Executive in 2013. In June 2014, the CPS Special Crime Division announced that there was “Sufficient evidence” to charge Blackmoor Estate Limited, and Mr Stocker, former manager of the fruit packing and storage operation, with two counts of gross negligence leading to manslaughter.

Mr Stocker denies charges of manslaughter. The trial continues.