An electrician who installed lighting in a pub garden which electrocuted a seven-year-old boy “never saw any evidence of anything dangerous” at the premises while working there for 48 days, a court heard.

Harvey Tyrrell died on September 11 2018 after he suffered an electric shock in the garden of the King Harold pub in Romford, east London, when he sat on a light on a low wall and touched a metal railing.

Electrician Colin Naylor, of Hockly Road, Rayleigh, denies a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence.

The pub was owned by Naylor’s brother-in-law and fellow electrician David Bearman, who previously entered a guilty plea to Harvey’s manslaughter.

The jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court heard on Tuesday that between April 9 and June 27 2018, Naylor had worked for 48 days at the pub, being paid £150 a hour.

This included working on lighting in the women’s toilets, lights behind the bar area, security lights and a socket connected to the pub’s fruit machines, as well as the garden lighting, the court heard.

Jurors were previously told the pub’s electrics would trip intermittently and that 12 defects posing a risk of injury including electric shock, and 32 potentially dangerous defects were found following Harvey’s death.

Echo:

During cross-examination on Tuesday, prosecutor Duncan Penny QC asked Naylor: “During that period did you ever say to David Bearman, ‘look Dave, this place is a mess you need to get it sorted out’.”

Naylor replied: “No”.

He added: “I never say any evidence of any faults anywhere in that public house.”

Mr Penny highlighted to Naylor that experts had been critical of the pub’s electrics, with one describing it as “the most dangerous thing he’s ever seen in 40 years”.

He put it to the defendant that the premises was “a death trap” and that distribution, or fuse boards, were a “dog’s dinner”.

Naylor, who is 74, was repeatedly questioned about how he felt about hearing evidence of issues at the pub and why he did not examine distribution boards more closely.

Naylor said: “I never saw any evidence of anything dangerous or badly done in that pub.”

He said he had done a “visual” check of the boards, adding: “There was no indication that there was no earth on any of the boards.”

Naylor said the area was “just untidy, not a dog’s dinner”.

READ MORE:

The prosecution previously suggested Naylor, an electrician with 50 years of experience, was familiar with the premises and was aware of “the unsatisfactory state” of the electrics.

Mr Penny said the garden lights featured “significant defects”, including inadequate insulation to prevent water from getting inside.

The court previously heard that Naylor had defended his work in a police interview and later said that he thought it was more likely the metal railings had become live due to another electricity supply rather than the lighting he had installed, but acknowledged this was speculation.

Earlier on Tuesday, under questioning from defence barrister Graham Trembath QC, Naylor confirmed the lights for the pub garden had been taken from Bearman’s own garden after he sought to install new LED ones.

The court heard that Naylor chose “steel wire armoured” and “three core” cable for the garden lighting.

He confirmed that, when he left working at the pub after getting a new job, not all of the garden lights had been connected to a complete circuit as construction work was ongoing.

Before he left, Naylor said he conducted a “dead test” or “continuity test” on five lights to check there was “no break in them”.

He said testing and certification of the lights should have been done after he left working at the pub, with this being the responsibility of the pub manager or owner.

Naylor claimed he had mentioned this to Bearman, telling him in June 2018: “Don’t forget it should all be tested”.

The electrician confirmed in court that he did not make connections or repairs to the garden lights circuit after leaving in June 2018, and did not add “white flexible cable” or “insulating tape” to attach wires, as found in a September examination.

Naylor said he did not know who did the further work.

Mr Trembath asked him: “Looking back on it now, did you think you did, in respect of the work you did in terms of the garden light circuit, a proper, competent, good job?”

“Yes,” Naylor replied.

Naylor denies a charge of failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to take reasonable care, as well as manslaughter.

The trial continues.