A landlord has been prosecuted for failing to maintain gas fittings at one of his properties in Middlesborough.

Christopher Hobaiter of Lyndon Avenue, Hartburn, Stockton on Tees pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 36(2) of the Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998. He was sentenced to a 26 weeks in prison, suspended for 24 months, with over £1,904 in costs.

Teesside Magistrates Court heard how the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found a gas fire with back boiler at a tenanted property in Wilton Street to be immediately dangerous following an examination.

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Mr Hobaiter was prosecuted after the appliance was found to be leaking deadly carbon monoxide into the ground floor sitting room. Windows were sealed shut and wall ventilation grills had been blocked over for some time, exposing the tenant to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

HM Inspector of Health and Safety, Richard Bulmer, said: "Low level carbon monoxide poisoning can be severe and debilitating and almost always fatal at higher levels.

"Falling asleep in the vicinity of a carbon monoxide producing gas fire is highly likely to lead to death."

(LM/CD)