An 18-year-old apprentice joiner, Chloe Bidwell, died when an unsafe stack of plasterboard fell on her while she was renovating a student accommodation property in Bangor, north Wales. An inquest into the incident, which occurred on December 20, 2023, found systemic failures in risk assessments and determined Bidwell should not have been working alone.
David Horrocks, a director of the student accommodation provider Varcity Living, admitted to failing to discharge a health and safety duty. He received a 26-week prison sentence, suspended for two years. Varcity Living pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of employees and non-employees. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.
Bidwell, described as a talented young woman, was a keen rugby player and skydiver. She had won a gold medal in joinery at the 'Skills Competition Wales' in 2023, outperforming male students. Her mother, Clare Stephenson-Brown, stated in a victim impact statement that her daughter was 'full of life, energy and determination' and was preparing for travel and a future career as a firefighter. Her family expressed unbearable pain over the fact she was alone during her final moments.
The Health and Safety Executive and police investigated the tragedy. The provisional cause of death was determined to be compression of the neck. Bidwell had been an apprentice with Varcity Living and had encouraged other women to consider trades as a career. At the time of her death, she was working on the renovation of a house at Coed Celyn, which was being upgraded for university students.