Jersey gas explosion trial: jury discharged after failing to agree on third worker
Two gas workers have been convicted of gross negligence manslaughter and Island Energy of health and safety breaches after the Jersey blast killed 10; a jury could not agree on a third worker.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Jersey gas explosion trial
A jury at Jersey's Royal Court has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict on the final defendant in the trial over the gas explosion that killed 10 people in St Helier in December 2022. Lee Ward denied 10 counts of gross negligence manslaughter. The jury could not agree on his case. Two other gas workers, Neil Armstrong and John Wright, were found guilty of 10 counts of gross negligence manslaughter. Their employer, Island Energy, was found guilty of two health and safety offences. Sentencing will take place at a later date. Prosecutors have 14 days to decide whether to retry Ward.
The explosion happened at the Haut du Mont block of flats. Nine residents died that night. Kathleen McGinnis, who lived in a building next door, was thrown out of bed by the force of the blast. She helped another resident to safety, was taken to hospital, and died two weeks later on Christmas Day. The victims were Kathleen McGinnis, Raymond Brown, Derek and Sylvia Ellis, Romeu and Louise de Almeida, Peter Bowler, Billy Marsden, and Ken and Jane Ralph.
Gas was being disconnected from the flats because residents had gone electric. Prosecutors said the experienced engineers carried out sloppy work. A vital pressure test to check for gas leaks was not carried out. In a police interview, Armstrong was unsure whether he had put a plug back into the gas pipe that later exploded. Wright told police that Armstrong knew correct procedures had not been followed. He said Armstrong told him: 'I'll call you and we'll come up with a plan to lie about putting it on test if anyone asks you.' Prosecutors said Island Energy relied on informal supervision, which allowed corner cutting, and that there had been a lack of staff training.
The court heard that gas was supposed to have been disconnected the day before the explosion. Armstrong was the supervisor. Prosecutors said he checked the valves inside the flat block and left at least one open, then lied to police. They said he was responsible for telling his team where to cut the pipe, guessed, and got it wrong. He then panicked and turned the gas back on, unaware that fumes were leaking into flats still connected to the mains. Wright cut the pipe and told police he had asked whether a test would be done, but said his supervisor told him: 'get it connected, end off... Forget the test, get it on.' Prosecutors said Wright knew how vital a pressure test was. Armstrong later messaged several people, saying: 'I'm sorry for putting you through this.'
Emergency services found utter devastation. One resident called the fire and rescue service to report the smell of gas from her flat; she was among those who died that night. Questions remain about missed opportunities to evacuate the building before the explosion, and about the procedures put in place since. Families have waited four years for answers. No verdict can give them back the time they lost with the people they loved.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reported by all 3 channels | |||
| A jury unanimously found Neil Armstrong and John Wright guilty of unlawful killing over the Jersey explosion. | Reported by Channel 5 | ||
| Island Energy was unanimously found guilty of two counts of breaching health and safety laws. | |||
| Jurors were discharged after they could not reach a majority verdict on a third worker. | Reported by ITV | ||
| Ten residents died after gas escaped from an open valve at a block of flats. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One | |
| Reported by a few · 2 channels | |||
| The guilty verdicts against Armstrong, Wright and Island Energy were unanimous. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by ITV | |
| Only on one channel | |||
| One resident who died had called the fire and rescue service to report the smell of gas from her flat. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by ITV |
| Prosecutors had 14 days to decide whether to retry Lee Ward. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by ITV | |
| The ten victims were named as Kathleen McGinnis, Raymond Brown, Derek and Sylvia Ellis, Romeu and Louise de Almeida, Peter Bowler, Billy Marsden, and Ken and Jane Ralph. | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The report led on the guilty verdicts but kept the jury's failure to agree on a third worker as a secondary point. It included the prosecution's account of sloppy work, missed pressure tests and the lie alleged by John Wright.
- “Two gas workers have been found guilty of 10 counts of gross negligence manslaughter following a fatal gas explosion that killed 10 people in Jersey.”
- “The jury at Jersey's royal court has now been discharged after it failed to reach a majority verdict on a third worker.”
- “Neil did say to me, I'll call you and we'll come up with a plan to lie about putting it on test if anyone asks you.”
The lunchtime bulletin gave a short, straight report on the guilty verdicts and the cause of the blast, then moved on to unrelated business news. It did not mention the third worker or the jury's failure to agree in the excerpt.
- “gas workers have been found guilty of ten counts of gross negligence Manslaughter after ten people were killed in a fatal gas explosion at a block of flats in Jersey in 2022”
- “ten residents died when gas escaped from an open valve of a block of flats that then collapsed in the subsequent Explosion”
- “Island Energy was also unanimously found guilty of two counts of breaking health and safety laws”
5 News gave a human-led account, naming every victim and describing Kathleen McGinnis's death on Christmas Day. It explained the sequence of the gas work in detail and ended on the families' wait for justice, with the jury's failure on Lee Alan Ward included.
- “10 lives lost on a dark December night, just weeks before Christmas after a gas pipe was cut incorrectly in 2022.”
- “Today a jury was unable to reach a verdict on a third gas worker, Lee Alan Ward, who denies all charges.”
- “Families have waited four years for justice, but no verdict can give them back the time they've lost with those they loved.”
The later BBC bulletin was a compact update that put the hung jury first and named Lee Ward as the final defendant. It added the 14-day window for prosecutors to decide on a retrial and framed the case as one of the Channel Islands' worst incidents.
- “a Jury has failed to reach a verdict on the final defendant in a trial in Jersey following a gas explosion that killed 10 people”
- “The prosecution has 14 days to decide whether to retry his case.”
- “This was one of the most tragic incidents in Channel Islands history after four long years the families finally have some answers”
This was the most contextual broadcast, using a Jersey-based two-way to explain the four defendants, the possible retrial and what remains unanswered. It shifted attention to the fire and rescue service's missed chances to evacuate and to concerns that procedures since the blast have not been publicly addressed.
- “Today, the jury were unable to reach a verdict on the third gas worker, Leigh Ward.”
- “We also haven't heard directly from the island's fire and rescue service, who missed crucial opportunities that night in order to evacuate the building before the explosion.”
- “There is still concern here tonight that until we hear from authorities about the procedures that they have put in place since the explosion, there is a fear that a tragedy like this may happen again.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.