By Katie Feehan For Mailonline

Published: 09:49 EDT, 6 October 2021 | Updated: 09:57 EDT, 6 October 2021

A scaffolder was crushed to death in a 'long-predicted' church collapse, a court has been told.

Jeff Plevey, 56, from Cardiff, died when the derelict Citadel Church in Splott, Cardiff, fell down as he worked on it on July 18, 2017.

The court heard Mr Plevey had been working on scaffolding surrounding the church when the rear wall collapsed, bringing down the scaffolding with it and burying the father-of-two in the wreckage. 

His body was recovered from the rubble, prosecutors told a jury in Swansea during the trial of several men and companies charged with offences relating to their role in the incident.

Keith Young, 72, from Llandough, and Stewart Swain, 53, from Whitchurch in Cardiff, are accused of gross negligence manslaughter.

Swain is the director of Swain Scaffolding Limited while Young is the director of Young Contractors, the demolition firm involved in the work.

Lead prosecutor Andrew Langdon QC told the jury of nine women and three men how at around 2.45pm railway workers on the nearby Splott Bridge heard a 'loud crack' and, 'a bang, like a small explosion'.

Scaffolder and father of two Jeff Plevey (pictured) was crushed to death in when the rear wall of the derelict Citadel Church in Cardiff collapsed on top of him in 2017, a court has been told

Prosecutors say a report had warned the collapse was 'imminent' but that it was not acted on

From the church building site they heard men shouting 'run', and telling someone to 'jump' before scaffolding around the church collapsed with another 'huge bang'.

The railway workers hurried across to find those who had escaped looking 'distressed' and repeatedly saying 'Jeff is inside'.

The scaffolding Mr Plevey had been standing on had 'disintegrated', Mr Langdon said, and 'looked like liquorice, having been burned to nothing under the weight of what had crushed it'.

'Jeff Plevey was eventually discovered among the wreckage. He had been crushed to death,' Mr Langdon said.'

Both men deny the charges which were brought after a joint investigation by South Wales Police and the Health and Safety Executive.

Mark Gulley, from Penarth, director of Amos Projects Limited, who had owned the Citadel since 2006, and Richard Lyons, from Bristol, a partner of Optima Scaffold Design Solutions Ltd are also on trial for health and safety offences.

Keith Young, 72, director of the demolition company, and Stewart Swain, 53, director of the scaffolding company, are both accused of gross negligence manslaughter which they deny

Workers are pictured on scene after the rear wall of the Citadel Church collapsed in July 2017

The church on Splott Road was built in 1892 and was mainly used by the Salvation Army until it became vacant around 20 years ago and fell into disrepair.

Mr Gulley had intended to refurbish the property into flats but later decided to demolish it and sell the site to developers.

Network Rail commissioned a survey into the building's condition due to its closeness to Splott Bridge - which was undergoing works as part of the electrification of the railway between Cardiff and London.

The report found the church to be in a 'poor' state, and said the rear wall was 'in danger of imminent collapse'.

The report was sent to Mr Gulley in the summer of 2016 and he shared it with all of the contractors hired to carry out the demolition, but not with Mr Swain, who was the director of the scaffolding company.

Despite the report's warning and the 'obvious' danger posed by the rear wall, the prosecution say contractors failed to carry out sufficient works to stabilise it.

Pictured: Father-of-two Jeff Plevey was crushed to death while working on the derelict church

Scaffolding erected around the building was then tied to the wall, making any collapse liable to take the scaffolding with it.

Mr Plevey and two other workers had been told to dismantle the scaffolding in preparation for the wall demolition when the collapse happened.

Mr Langdon said: 'It was the long-predicted collapse of that unstable wall. Unsupported and dangerous as it had been throughout, it had become even more dangerous since the demolition of the church had begun.'

The prosecution claimed no one had taken responsibility of the project as a whole, describing the management of the site as 'dysfunctional'.

The court was also told that had building regulations been followed 'this fatality could not have occurred'.

Two other men, Phil Thomas, from Cardiff, who was Young's health and safety advisor from South Wales Safety Consultancy Ltd, and Richard Dean, of Abertillery, from NJP Consultant Engineers Ltd, have already pleaded guilty to health and safety offences.

Rail workers nearby heard men shouting 'run', and telling someone to 'jump' before scaffolding around the church collapsed with another 'huge bang' the court was told. Pictured: the scene

Pictured: Police officers on scene at the church in Cardiff after the rear wall collapsed in 2017

In tributes paid after his death, Mr Plevey's family said: 'We are saddened to announce the passing of Jeff - a much loved and treasured member of our family.

'A hard working man who was always life and soul of any gathering, of which there were many.

'He will be greatly missed by all his family and friends.'

The trial before Mrs Justice Jefford is expected to take up to 10 weeks at the Swansea Civic Centre, one of the Nightingale courts set up to ease the backlog of cases worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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