Call for inquiry into firemen’s charges

A CHIEF fire officer has called for an investigation into why three long-serving firefighters were prosecuted after the deaths of four of their colleagues in a warehouse blaze.

Graeme Smith, the head of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, claimed that Adrian Ashley, Paul Simmons and Timothy Woodward had been “treated like common criminals” in the wake of the tragedy at Atherstone-on-Stour in 2007.

Jurors at Stafford Crown Court cleared Mr Ashley, 45, and Mr Woodward, 51, of gross negligence manslaughter after hearing six weeks of evidence about the deaths of Ashley Stephens, Darren Yates-Badley, John Averis and Ian Reid.

A third defendant, watch manager Paul Simmons, 50, was acquitted of manslaughter on the directions of the judge part-way through the trial.