A fire service has dropped its prosecution case for alleged breaches of fire safety regulations against four contractors involved in the design, risk assessment, management and maintenance of a care home in Crewe.
The Beechmere retirement village, which housed around 150 residents, was destroyed in a fire on 8 August 2019.
The trial began on Tuesday (6 May) at Chester Crown Court, but the fire service said it took the “very difficult decision” to withdraw the case “after carefully considering legal advice”.
The fire service brought the prosecutions under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 following a long and complex investigation into the cause of the fire and the reasons why it spread so rapidly.
Alex Waller, chief fire officer, said: “Following extensive legal submissions heard over the first two days of the trial, unfortunately, it became clear this morning (7 May) that there would be no realistic prospect of securing convictions. After carefully considering legal advice, regrettably we have taken the very difficult decision to withdraw our prosecution case against all four defendants.
“We understand that former residents of Beechmere and their families will be disappointed with this outcome, which is not the one we have been working hard to achieve.”
The defendants
The four defendants, all of whom pleaded not guilty, faced a total of 14 charges between them.
They were:
- Avantage (Cheshire): contracted to procure the design, build and finance of Beechmere and operate the village. Avantage is a subsidiary of Your Housing.
- Your Housing: employed staff at Beechmere and as such was the ‘responsible person’ for fire safety measures as defined by Article 3(a) of the Fire Safety (Regulatory Reform) Order 2005.
- Morgan Sindall Property Services: the facilities management subcontractor to Avantage with responsibility for responsive repairs and cyclical maintenance.
- Total Fire Group: contracted to carry out fire risk assessments in August 2017 and August 2018 at Beechmere.
In October 2024, six charges against roofing contractor MAC Roofing were dropped and the two against WSP UK were dropped in February 2025.
As a result of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service’s investigations into the fire at Beechmere, the emergency service said there had been significant fire safety improvements at four other similar premises across Cheshire.
