New corporate manslaughter legislation could be in place within the next 12 to 18 months, according to an Open University law expert.

The claim came from Gary Slapper, director of the law programme at the university, which has a regional centre at Foxcombe Hall in Boars Hill, Oxford.

Following the Paddington rail disaster, the Oxford Mail launched a campaign for the introduction of tough new corporate manslaughter legislation, making it easier to prosecute the directors of firms for the death of their staff and customers. Only five cases of corporate manslaughter have ever been brought, with just two resulting in convictions.

In the first British study of its kind, called Blood in the Bank, Dr Slapper researched 40 random cases involving death at work, examining every aspect of the legal and social responses to the deaths, interviewing officials, police officers, Health and Safety inspectors, coroners and lawyers.

He found that in 20 per cent of these cases, there was evidence of corporate manslaughter. That would mean about 55 prosecutions out of approximately 275 deaths at work a year. Dr Slapper told the Oxford Mail: "Following the Southall crash and the Paddington disaster, thanks to campaigns like the one in the Oxford Mail, public opinion has been galvanised and this will lead to the introduction of new legislation, I believe, within the next 12 to 18 months.

"As the law currently stands, there is a great deal more that could be done, but police say they do not have the resources and therefore hand cases over to the Health and Safety Executive. "When a reckless company kills, the legal system usually just turns away. There is virtually no deterrent."

The Law Commission advised the Government three years ago that the corporate manslaughter law needed to be more effective.

Story date: Tuesday 30 November

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.