Bosley Mill explosion: Director denies manslaughter

A company director has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter after four employees died in a mill explosion.

Derek Moore, Dorothy Bailey, Jason Shingler and William Barks were killed in the blast at Wood Flour Mills in Bosley, Cheshire, in July 2015.

George Boden, 64, director of Wood Treatment Ltd which ran the mill, denied gross negligence manslaughter at Chester Crown Court.

A corporate manslaughter charge against the firm was also denied.

Managers Philip Smith, 58, and Peter Shingler, 56, also appeared in the dock to plead not guilty to a health and safety offence - a charge which was also denied by Mr Boden and Wood Treatment Ltd.

A four-storey building was destroyed in the blast which killed the four workers after a fire broke out at the mill on Tunstall Road shortly after 09:00 BST on 17 July.

Such was the scale of the blaze, firefighters did not leave the site of the explosion for more than a month.

A number of workers were injured as the mill was reduced to rubble.

Mr Boden, of Church Road, Stockport, Mr Shingler, of Turnstall Road, Bosley, and Mr Smith, of Raglan Road, Macclesfield, were granted unconditional bail.

They are due to return to Chester Crown Court for a further hearing on 9 December, with a provisional trial date set for 11 January.

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