Jersey Explosion

Channels reported that gas workers Neil Armstrong and John Wright were convicted of ten counts of gross negligence manslaughter over a gas explosion at a block of flats in Jersey in 2022 that killed ten people. BBC ONE West reported the two men and their employer, Island Energy, were found guilty the previous day, and that the jury could not reach a verdict on a third gas worker, Lee Ward, who denied ten counts; it said prosecutors had 14 days to decide whether to retry him. ITV1 reported Armstrong and Wright were unanimously found guilty and that Island Energy was unanimously found guilty of two counts of breaking health and safety laws. 5 reported the jury could not reach a verdict on Lee Ward and that Armstrong and Wright would be sentenced later. BBC ONE West reported the prosecution case that pipe work to disconnect the gas supply was carried out incorrectly, that an important pressure test was not carried out, and that Island Energy relied on informal supervision and lacked staff training. 5 reported prosecutors said gas was supposed to have been disconnected the day before the explosion, that Armstrong left at least one valve open and later turned the gas back on, and that a basic safety test should have been carried out. 5 named the victims and reported that Kathleen McGinnis lived in a nearby building and died on Christmas Day two weeks after the blast.

Key Claims by Channel

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
Ten residents died after gas escaped from an open valve at a block of flats.	Reported by Channel 5	Reported by BBC One
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
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
Prosecutors said an important gas leak pressure test, or basic safety test, was not carried out.	Reported by Channel 5	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Wright told police he was instructed to skip or lie about a gas safety test.	Reported by Channel 5	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Only on one channel
Prosecutors had 14 days to decide whether to retry Lee Ward.	Not reported by Channel 5		Not reported by ITV
Armstrong and Wright were to be sentenced at a later date.	Reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Prosecutors described Armstrong and Wright as experienced engineers whose work on pipes intended to disconnect the gas supply was sloppy.	Not reported by Channel 5	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Prosecutors said gas was supposed to have been disconnected from the building the day before the explosion.	Reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Prosecutors said Armstrong checked valves and left at least one open, then lied to police.	Reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Armstrong appeared unsure in a police interview whether he had put a plug back in the gas pipe.	Not reported by Channel 5	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Prosecutors said Armstrong directed where to cut the pipe, guessed wrongly, and turned the gas back on unaware fumes were leaking into flats still connected to the mains.	Reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Prosecutors said Island Energy relied on informal supervision, allowed corners to be cut, and lacked staff training.	Not reported by Channel 5	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Reports said Kathleen McGinnis was injured in the explosion and died two weeks later on Christmas Day, while other victims died almost immediately.	Reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by ITV
Island Energy is Jersey's sole gas supplier.	Reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC One	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
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

This is a cross-channel consensus summary, not an objective account. Consensus can be uniformly wrong, or omit what only one channel covered.