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Last updateThu, 28 May 2026 11am

Watkin Jones & Son's £450k fine over worker's roof fall

altA construction firm has been fined £450,000 for breaching safety rules which led to a 21-year-old roofing sub contractor falling through a hole in a roof and dying two years later.

Thomas Whitmarsh fell within 10 minutes of starting a new job at Menai Shopping Centre, Bangor, Gwynedd, in 2007.

Watkin Jones & Son Ltd from Bangor denied breaching the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 at Mold Crown Court.

Judge Niclas Parry also ordered the firm to pay £98,000 costs.

The court was told Mr Whitmarsh had arrived with a team of roofers from Leeds to work at the site shortly before falling 5.2 metres (17ft), suffering serious injuries.