A Beckenham builder responsible for work which led to the death of a Wandsworth dry cleaner was handed a suspended sentence today (May 31).

Mohammed Javid Butt, 63, was found dead at Taniya Dry Cleaners on Wandsworth Road on October 5, 2013.

He had died from carbon monoxide poisoning after a flue pipe for the boiler he used in his dry cleaning business was cut during building work.

Keith Morris, 66, admitted health and safety offences, pleading guilty at the Old Bailey on April 29.

Morris told police he was unaware the pipe was in use and cut it back to about 5ft above the ceiling of the dry cleaners to make it safer for the builders to work around.

Today he was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment suspended for two years, 200 hours of community work and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs.

Mr Butt had run the dry cleaners for 27 years and kept his business open during the redevelopment of the surrounding site into flats.

A customer saw Mr Butt slumped against the wall and called the police, who had to go back to their vehicles and put on gas masks before they reached Mr Butt in his shop front.

A post-mortem examination confirmed the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.

A specialist detector showed carbon monoxide levels of more than 300 parts per million (ppm) - almost ten times the concentration at which the gas is believed to start being toxic to humans.

Mr Butt's daughter Aneeqa Saleem said in her victim impact statement that her father's death meant the loss of "the glue of my family".

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“I don't hate any of you. I don't wish to be here anymore then you do. I wish we could rewind two and a half years and make it so that this somehow never happened.

“But we can't undo what's happened and so all I want now is for someone to stand up and say, we made a terrible mistake and we're sorry.

“I have forgiven you for what you've taken from me and my children, but I will never be able to escape the emptiness, for the daily phone calls I now can't make, for the memories and milestones I can't share.

“For the overwhelming feeling of sadness, because every woman needs the rock that is her father, no matter what happens in life.”

Morris admitted health and safety offences, specifically failure of an employee to discharge his duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of other persons, contrary to sections 7(a) and 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

A manslaughter case against Morris was discontinued.

Morden-based building firm 6699 Limited was responsible for the redevelopment works at the premises, with Morris working as one of the builders.

6699 Limited pleaded guilty to failure to plan, manage and monitor works, contrary to regulation 13(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 207 and section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The construction company will be sentenced on July 28.