Skip death trial: I wasn't there when tragedy struck, claims boss accused of manslaughter

Bikram Mahli told police that he had left for a few minutes to go to the toilet and only spotted 24-year-old Jagpal Singh, sprawled on the ground in the yard at Bilston Skip Hire in Wolverhampton, on his return.

In a six-page statement to police, the yard manager gave his version of the hours leading up to the tragic death on June 28, 2012, of Mr Singh, who was employed to help sort out the contents of the skips, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

In the interview, read out by Mr Michael Burrows, QC, prosecuting, Mahli said it had been raining heavily that morning, so he had given the yard staff a tea break until 11am when the weather cleared.

He told Mr Singh, of Bilston Road, Wolverhampton, to sort out some of the green waste, including tree branches. He said Mr Singh, known as 'Jag', had earlier used the JCB excavator but had got out and climbed into a skip to pull in material that was hanging over the side.

In his statement, Mahli said he left the yard to urinate and was gone for 'only three or four minutes.' Returning, he found Mr Singh 'fallen on the ground' in front of the skip.

"I quickly went over to him and got his arms and stood him up. He was trembling and wasn't able to speak," Mahli told police.

Staff helped Mr Singh into the office and an ambulance was called but when paramedics had not arrived after 10 - 15 minutes, it was decided to take the injured man to New Cross Hospital themselves.

He was about to be carried to Mahli's Vauxhall estate when they were told that an ambulance was on its way. The court heard the site manager rang three or four people from the ambulance on the way to hospital.

When he was informed by doctors on arrival that Mr Singh's condition was serious and, after an hour, that he had died, Mahli said: "I began to tremble. Jag's family live in the Punjab, in my home town, I don't know how I'm going to tell them." Mr Singh died of chest injuries, a post mortem showed.

Three days later detectives called at Mahli's home in Yale Road, Willenhall, and told him police believed parts of his statement were 'untrue.' He was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

The company has since gone into liquidation but is being prosecuted in its absence. It denies corporate manslaughter and failing to discharge its duty of care to employees.

Mahli, 44, admits negligence in failing to ensure Mr Singh's safety but denies manslaughter through gross negligence. The case continues.