A self-employed plumber who installed an unsafe boiler and made regular safety checks on it while pretending to be Gas Safe registered has admitted a deep remorse for his actions after being given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.
Exeter Crown Court heard that Christian Winter, 35, of Westabrook, Ashburton, fitted a boiler at a property in Kingskerswell, presenting the owner with certificates containing false registration numbers in order to keep up the pretence.
Winter was given the sentence after the court was informed that he was neither competent nor registered to carry out the work he did and his actions could have led to an explosion or carbon monoxide poisoning, with the plumber stating in a pre-sentence report that he took full responsibility for his actions which had weighed heavily on him.
Winter admitted that he broke the law by installing the boiler when not an approved person on the Gas Safe register between August 2012, and August 2015. The plumber, who ran a business called CJS Plumbing, provided safety certificates during each check-up, and when the tenants of the property raised a problem with the boiler they said Winter looked ‘perplexed and confused’ and could not fix it.
A registered gas engineer found the flue was not properly sealed in a subsequent check, meaning there was a risk of leaking and carbon monoxide poisoning. Winter admitted three breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 during his appearance at Exeter Crown Court on April 8.
Recorder Michael Meake QC said: “These offences involved you, a plumber by trade, masquerading as a Gas Safe engineer.
“When a qualified gas engineer checked the installation he found faults present which would constitute as a danger to life. That says to me you are not competent to do the work.
“It’s well known the importance of properly installing and maintaining a gas boiler which is capable of leaking carbon monoxide into a property and there are many cases in which death to an occupant has resulted. I can suspend the sentence but it has been a close call.”
The judge added: “You have presented a real danger to members of the public by your conduct.”
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