Construction firm director is jailed after worker, 30, died when trench collapsed on him during home renovation

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 14:25 EDT, 15 September 2026 | Updated: 14:42 EDT, 15 September 2026 A former director of a construction firm has been jailed after a worker died in a collapsed trench during a project to build an extension for a house.Labourer Dale Baker, 30, suffocated after the trench collapsed on him followed by the foundations of a conservatory in Woodbridge in December 2020, Suffolk Police said.Peter Clifford, 63, whose company Hintonwood East Anglia had been engaged for the extension project, pleaded guilty at Ipswich Crown Court to gross negligence manslaughter, the force said.Clifford, of Holland Road, Felixstowe, also pleaded guilty to two offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act, and his firm pleaded guilty to two offences under the same act, police said.He was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court on Tuesday to eight years and 10 months in prison and banned from acting as the director of a company for 10 years, Suffolk Police said.The force said that on the day of Mr Baker's death, December 15, a trench was dug along the side of a conservatory attached to a house in Haughgate Close, Woodbridge.A building inspector came to look at the works, at which time the trench was around 1.5 metres deep, and it was found that the existing structure had a basement.The inspector told Clifford he would need to dig an inspection hole to see where the basement wall was, as this would determine what type of foundation would be required for the extension. Peter Clifford (pictured), whose company Hintonwood East Anglia had been engaged for the extension project, pleaded guilty at Ipswich Crown Court to gross negligence manslaughter, the force saidPolice said Clifford dug down deeper in the trench, but that health and safety measures such as shuttering – where a supporting frame is used to prevent collapse – were either not implemented or were completely inadequate.An investigation also determined that the trench had been dug dangerously close to the conservatory, creating a risk of undermining it, and that Clifford took no action to support its foundations.The trench was also not fenced off to prevent people from falling in, investigators found.Superintendent Mike Brown, the senior investigating officer, said it was 'clear' Clifford 'had failed in his duty as an employer to ensure the safety of the construction site and implement basic measures that would've prohibited a tragic incident such as this to occur.'He added: 'To then compound matters by failing to appear at court and going on the run displayed a level of contempt for Dale's family and the judicial process.' Richard Rajham, HM Inspector of Health & Safety at the Health and Safety Executive, said: 'The tragic death of Dale Baker again shows the importance of planning to ensure that proper precautions are taken to control the risks from work in and around excavations.'Workers continue to die and be injured in collapsing excavations all of these could be avoided with proper planning and control measures.'