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A plumber has been sentenced for carrying out illegal gas work at a property in Devon.
Christian Winter, 35, trading as CJS Winter Plumbing & Heating Services of Ashburton, Devon, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(3) and 3(7) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
He was given a suspended prison sentence of 12 months and ordered to undertake 200 hours unpaid work with £3,327.80 in costs.
Exeter Crown Court heard Mr Winter installed a gas boiler at a property on Park Road in Kingskerswell.
He then undertook landlord's gas safety checks at the property despite having no competencies in gaswork or being registered with Gas Safe Register for any gaswork.
In addition, he deceived the landlord of the property by using a fictitious Gas Safe Register registration number on the landlord's gas safety records he produced.
Mr Winter's illegal gaswork came to light when the boiler he had installed and which he then passed as safe over the next three years was inspected by a properly registered member of Gas Safe.
The engineer discovered a number of faults on the gas installation and classed the gaswork as dangerous.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Mr Winter had used fraudulent Gas Safe registered details to deceive the landlord. When the landlord was informed of the defects she challenged MrWinter, but he continued to lie to her by stating that he was a registered gas engineer.
HSE Inspector Simon Jones said: "Only engineers registered with Gas Safe can legally carry out gas work and it is fortunate no-one was harmed as a result of Mr Winter's illegal and dangerous gaswork.
"He compounded his illegal work by fraudulently using false Gas Safe Register details on his paperwork and then lied to a landlord when he was challenged about this in a clear attempt to deceive the landlord and tenant.
"The landlord relied on the honesty of Mr Winter but by deceiving her he put the lives of her tenants at risk for his own financial gain."
(LM)
