HAUT DU MONT DAY 2
An Island Energy supervisor admitted he had lied twice about carrying out a pressure test on gas pipes near Haut du Mont the day before the explosion which killed ten people, the Royal Court was told yesterday.
The prosecution told jurors yesterday that Neil Armstrong sent an email on the afternoon of 10 December 2022 – just hours after the blast at Pier Road – saying that “no pressure test had been conducted” when gas was restored the previous evening.
The prosecution says such a test would have revealed a leak in the system.
Mr Armstrong, John Wright and Lee Ward each deny ten counts of gross negligence manslaughter. Jersey Gas, trading as Island Energy, denies two alleged health and safety breaches.
Crown Advocate Simon Thomas claimed to the Royal Court yesterday that Mr Armstrong wrote that he had lied on two separate occasions when questioned about whether the test had been completed.
The court also heard that, in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, he allegedly told a colleague: “It’s my fault, I think there’s a valve left open… I don’t know if I’ve shut that valve – I may have left it open.”
Also on Wednesday, the court was told of a 999 call made by one of the Haut du Mont residents who lost her life in the explosion – Louisa De Almeida – who reported smelling gas.
The revelations came after prosecutors on Tuesday afternoon outlined how the team had come to cut off the wrong gas pipe in the first place.
Crown Advocate Simon Thomas said there should have been “serious concerns” when excavations revealed pipework which did not match the plans being used.
But no further excavation was carried out to establish the true layout beneath the pavement.
The mistake led to St Helier Yacht Club losing its gas supply and the team later acting “as if on the basis of urgent need” to restore it, the court heard.
Crown Advocate Thomas said the original work “should have been stopped” and the issue investigated rather than the team “ploughing ahead with the decommissioning”.
“Armstrong and Wright seem to have been content to proceed on the basis of what they assumed the position to be,” he said.
“That is a dangerous approach to take… particularly when one is dealing with gas pipework.”
Commissioner Andrew Oldland is presiding. The trial continues.
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