Scalding steam and deadly monoxide risk after 'shoddy' Leeds plumber fitted boiler for housebound pensioner

Christopher Shaw, who has no gas-fitting qualifications and was jailed for similar work in the past, installed the combi boiler at the property in the Burley Park area of the city in 2019.

But the work was so substandard and potentially lethal that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought a case against the 57-year-old.

It was found that wiring had been left exposed near a water supply, a blow-off pipe was so badly fitted it could have fired out scalding steam across the woman’s kitchen and the flu was not properly sealed, meaning deadly carbon monoxide could have seeped back into the house. Shaw also filled up cavities he had made with cardboard and plastered over them.

The case at Leeds Crown Court this week heard that the woman, who is elderly and housebound, had used Shaw before for plumbing work.

Working for SOS Express Plumbing, he told her he could fit the boiler, which he did in October 2019. But days later the woman’s son raised questions over the quality of the work.

After an investigation, it was found that Shaw was not gas-safety registered. He claimed he worked for Express Gas Services but there was no trace of the company.

During interview, Shaw, of Stonegate Farm Close in Meanwood, denied any wrongdoing and claimed another man had done the work at the woman’s home.

He has 16 previous convictions for 53 offences, many for dishonesty. He was jailed for six months in 2015 for almost identical work with a home boiler. He had already received a prohibition notice in 2011 banning him for carrying out gas work.

He admitted contravening the prohibition notice and two counts of contravening a health and safety regulation for the 2019 incident.

Mitigating, Andrew Pettison said Shaw was now in poor health after a heart bypass operation and posed no risk to others through work, asking the judge to spare him another jail sentence.

He added: “He is unable to work so the risk that he did pose was innately linked to his employment that he was unqualified to do. He is now incapable of work so the risk is no longer present.”

It was heard that Shaw had never taken a gas-safety course, claiming he worked mainly in plumbing and hardly ever worked in gas. He said he was needed to help his daughter with babysitting duties, and he said that he was remorseful for his actions, which was questioned by Judge Simon Batiste.

Jailing him for 16 months, Judge Batiste said: “You were not allowed to carry out gas fitting because you did not have the relevant qualifications. There is a serious danger to life in doing shoddy work.

"You have been locked up for carrying out such work, but it did not stop you. This woman was highly vulnerable. It’s evident that the work you carried out was entirely shoddy and substandard.

"You flagrantly disregarded the law. The risk was clear. It was that of death. I find little genuine remorse in this case.”