The manslaughter convictions of a father and son have been referred to the Court of Appeal by the miscarriage of justice watchdog.  Martin and Nathan Winter were convicted at Lewes Crown Court of manslaughter by gross negligence in December 2009 in relation to the deaths of two firemen in an explosion at a fireworks business near Lewes, Sussex in December 2006. The victims were killed after a metal shipping container on site exploded.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission decided not to refer his case to the Court of Appeal in 2013 after the Court of Appeal dismissed appeals three years earlier and a further unsuccessful application was made in 2015. In January 2020, the Administrative Division of the High Court granted Martin and Nathan Winter permission to challenge that decision by way of Judicial Review.  The CCRC agreed to take another look at the case.

Martin Winter, who was director of the fireworks business, was sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment and Nathan Winter, who also worked there, was sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment, reduced to 4 years’ on appeal. As part of their case, the prosecution alleged that Martin and Nathan Winter had been storing extremely explosive Hazard Type 1 fireworks in the shipping container, in contravention of their explosives licence. In their police interviews, Martin and Nathan Winter had both said that there were no HT1 fireworks in the container.

According to the CCRC: ‘Having carefully reconsidered this complicated case, the CCRC has decided that expert evidence not heard at trial may undermine the prosecution’s case that there were HT1 fireworks in the container.’