By Eric King-

Cornwall council has been blasted by an Inquest for the ignorance and recklessness in their conduct that led to the death of a 68 year old grandmother.

The  court ruled that the council did not listen to the ”consistent and frustrated complaints” from residence about previous landslips, highlighting a high  level of recklessness.

The verdict highlights the level of ignorance and recklessness that can be displayed by organisations who one would expect to know better and be of a higher standard. 68 years old Susan Norman died after tonnes of mud and rubble engulfed her flat in Looe in Cornwall.
Susan Norman, 68, died when tonnes of mud and rubble engulfed her flat in Looe, Cornwall, in March 2013. Jurors concluded that the  Council should have known that the grandmother faced a real and immediate risk of death because she was buried by the landslide. Also compounding the ignorance and recklessness was the fact neighbours had previously warned Cornall Council about the risk of erosion, and brought attention to the issue of whether the land was sufficiently stable to withstand the potential effects of erosion.
But Cornwall Council turned deaf ears to those complaints, recklessly allowing the situation to stay the same until it led to a death.Now their head is buried in shame.

Christina Miller- the land lady of the deceased tenant- told the inquest as soon as her tenant raised concerns she had called in a structural engineer who warned about the risk of “catastrophic collapse”.

However, the incompetent professionals did nothing substantial until three days of rainfall led to a wrecking of the two story house, killing Ms Norman in the process.
Kate Kennally, Cornwall Council’s chief executive sent a late apology to the family of Ms Norman which read: “I would like to apologise to Mrs Norman’s family and friends and express our sincere condolences for their loss.” She hinted that there were other details to the case which would give a complete pricture, but said  it would ”not be appropriate to comment because of ongoing court proceedings.

The apology comes too late, anybody can be sorry when death has followed their ignorant behaviour.

Cornwall Council should never have made an error that had serious consequences attached to it, for which reason the council should equally face serious consequences for the error, unless they can exonerate themselves with a good explanation. Heads should roll, otherwise there is no justice.

This level of recklessness and ignorance must be met with punishment whenever identified.  Organisations and corporations that flout the expected standards of their profession must always be held to account, so as not to give wrong signals to other organisations that they can just act how they like and escape punishment.

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• Date
  25th November 2016