Kaden Reddick: Tests on barrier not asked for, court hears

Topshop's parent firm did not ask for tests before a queue barrier that toppled over and killed a boy was installed, a court heard.

Kaden Reddick suffered a fatal head injury at the store in Reading during a family shopping trip in 2017.

Arcadia Group, Topshop/Topman and Realm Projects deny failing to discharge a health and safety duty.

Ex-Arcadia Group manager Alan Prior said its manufacturer had not been asked to perform tests on the barrier.

The prosecution said two screws, fixing a plinth to the ground, failed and the "wobbly" barrier toppled on Kaden on 13 February 2017.

Giving evidence, former store procurement manager Mr Prior said he believed Realm Projects had only tested the barrier vertically with a 50kg load on top to check "it would not break".

When asked by Valerie Charbit, prosecuting, if the barrier had been subjected to a weight horizontally to test stability, Mr Prior replied: "Not as far as I'm aware."

The court heard the barriers, manufactured by Realm Projects, were installed in Topshop stores across the UK 2012-14.

Mr Prior said he did not know if contractor Stoneforce had been provided with fitting information on how to fix the barrier to floor.

A few days before the incident in Reading a similar barrier, which was not fixed to the ground, toppled over in a Topshop store in Glasgow and fractured the skull of a young girl.

The jury were shown email exchanges between Arcadia employees following the accident, in which Mr Prior wrote to a colleague: "These [barriers] should have had columns we discussed fitted underneath."

The court heard the design of the barriers had been changed when Realm Projects took over manufacturing them from Anglo Eri.

Its former business director Peter Eady said its original design had four screw holes at the bottom of the barrier's plinth securing it to the floor.

Stoneforce Ltd, which was contracted to fit the barriers, has pleaded guilty to failing to discharge a health and safety duty.

The trial continues.

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