A Hook farming business has been prosecuted and banned from trading after some of its food was deemed “unfit for human consumption”.

Farm Catering Ltd, in Heckfield, committed eight food hygiene offences, including selling chicken pieces that contained fly eggs in them to members of the public.

The business, which traded at Holdshott Farm Shop, in Reading Road, was also found to have sold meat pies that were kept 4.5C above legal refrigeration requirements, and were therefore considered a high risk to consumers.

Each of the recorded incidents took place between April 7 2015 and March 15 last year, with business director, Kathleen David, and manager Roger David being fined £4,000 per hygiene offence as a result.

The duo were also required to pay £5,309 in court costs, and a £100 victim surcharge – taking the total fine up to £37,409, while they were banned from operating a food business with immediate effect.

Hart District Council’s environmental health department is responsible for the regulation of food safety within Hook, and became involved in the investigation following complaints from members of the public, and poor inspection results.

Cabinet member for regulatory services, Cllr John Kennett, said of the prosecution: “The health of residents is our first priority, and when businesses repeatedly ignore normal standards of hygiene, our environmental health will take action to protect the public. “Hundreds of businesses in Hart maintain safe standards, and there was no reason why Farm Catering Ltd could not do the same.”

Head of regulatory services at the council, Nick Steevens, added: “We have continually provided support and guidance to Farm Catering Ltd to try and assist them to comply with the food hygiene regulations.

“Despite our continued efforts to support this business, food safety inspections always revealed serious breaches of food hygiene legislation and failings which put customers at risk.

“The standards of food hygiene at this premises are some of the worst that my officers have experienced.”

Two companies have been fined a total of £282,000 after a Basingstoke worker suffered multiple life changing injuries including severe burns after an huge electric shock, writes Matthew Brown.

BAM Construction were fined £260,000 and Shoreland Projects £22,000 at Winchester Crown Court last week.

The incident took place on January 26, 2015 when contract worker Mark Bradley was helping to install lampposts on the site entrance road at the construction site of Network Rail’s railway operating centre in Gresley Road

Mr Bradley, from Gosport, received serious injures when a lamppost touched the 11kv overhead power lines as it was being lifted into position by a digger.

One of his colleagues rushed to help, bravely using a piece of timber to push the 52-year-old away from the lamppost.

According to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector William Christie speaking after the case, “his very serious injuries could have been worse had it not been for the quick thinking of his colleague”.

The father-of-four suffered multiple life changing injuries including severe burns to his face, neck and arms.

Winchester Crown Court heard how BAM Construction had been appointed by Network Rail to construct the £10million railway operating and training centre.

The Hemel Hempstead-based construction firm later appointed Hampshire company Shoreland Projects Ltd as the groundworks contractor for the project.

An investigation by the HSE found a number of workers including Mr Bradley were put at risk by numerous failures.

These included not properly identifying the presence of overhead power lines and appropriately planning work activity around them.

The investigation also found no suitable control measures were in place to prevent contact with the overhead lines.

BAM Construction Limited, of Breakspear Way, Hemel Hempstead, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.

The company was fined £260,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,415.13.

Shoreland Projects of Woodhouse Lane, Botley, also pleaded guilty to contravening Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and was fined £22,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,442.53.

Inspector Christie added that the “entirely preventable incident has had a permanent and very substantial effect on Mark’s life”.

He continued: “This case highlights the importance for all work to be planned properly by all duty holders.

“Overhead power lines pose a significant threat to the safety of workers.

“Construction work in the vicinity of live conductors must be properly planned, managed and monitored to ensure the risks are controlled.”

A spokesperson for BAM Construction said: “BAM Construction deeply regrets the accident that occurred on our site at Basingstoke in January 2015.

“We are a responsible company and co-operated fully with the HSE’s investigation.

“We have one of the best safety records in the industry and have acted on the lessons learned.

“We constantly engage our staff and subcontractors in the drive to eliminate accidents and ensure that everyone goes home safe at the end of the day.”

Shoreland Projects did not respond to a request for comment.

A Basingstoke man who “made a catalogue of reckless and irresponsible decisions” has been jailed for causing the death of 30-year-old Kirsty Saunders.

Barry Smart was overtaking at over 100mph and had alcohol in his system before losing control of the car and killing Ms Saunders, also of Basingstoke, on the A30 towards Hook at Water End in June last year.

He will spend the next five years behind bars after pleading guilty to death by dangerous driving.

Winchester Crown Court heard how 37 year-old Smart, of Pemberton Road, was driving a dark blue BMW that he had taken without the owner’s consent on the afternoon of June 24, 2016.

Smart lost control of the car and it collided with a tree, seriously injuring himself and Miss Saunders from Brookvale, who was in the front passenger seat.

She was rushed to Southampton General Hospital but died three days later on June 27.

Investigations by the Hampshire Constabulary’s serious collision investigation unit revealed Mr Smart had consumed alcohol that would have been likely to of had an impact on his driving.

Alongside the five-year sentence, he was disqualified from driving for seven and a half years.

For driving with no insurance, Smart received a 12-month prison sentence, to run concurrently.

“Once again we found ourselves investigating a fatal collision which was totally avoidable,” said PC Claire Miller.

“Smart made a catalogue of reckless and irresponsible decisions that night which ultimately led to the death of his friend.

“Had he just stopped to realise how dangerous his actions were, then Kirsty would still be alive today and her family would not be forced to live on without her.

“Instead he has to live the rest of his life knowing that he is responsible for the death of his friend.

“I hope that this case acts as a warning to other motorists that these risks are not worth taking.

“The consequences can be fatal, as this collision has proven.”

A driver has begun a 20 month prison sentence following a crash near Whitchurch in which a 16-year-old moped rider died.

Clergyman’s son Macaully Sutcliffe, known to his friends and family as Mac, was killed on October 14 last year in a collision with a van driven by 32-year-old Mohammed Zaman at the junction of Bloswood Lane and Harroway.

Zaman, of Wimbourne Gardens, Reading, pleaded guilty on June 6 to causing the death by careless driving of Mac, a former Test Bourne Community School student described by his family as a “fine young man”.

Mac Sutcliffe

Winchester Crown Court heard how Zaman had failed to obey the give way signs at the junction and not paid attention to his sat nav, which warned him that the junction was approaching.

He had seen Mac, of Applegate, St Mary Bourne, indicate but told police in interview he had misinterpreted the direction of indication.

Judge Keith Cutler, summing up, praised the teenager’s exemplary riding and said all fault for the collision lay with Zaman.

In addition to the prison sentence, Zaman was banned from driving for two years and 10 months, and ordered to re-take his driving test at end of the disqualification.

The teenager’s father, the Rev Richard Sutcliffe, the assistant benefic priest at St Mary Bourne, said on behalf of his family: “No court sentence can help to fill the gap that is left following the death of our son Mac.

“As well as missing his presence now, we have huge regrets for his future that was so cruelly cut short.

“We are enormously proud of the fine young man that he had become.

“He touched many people and we all miss him dreadfully.

“We are very grateful for all of the support we have received from so many people at this difficult time.”

A man who was found to be 79 times over the drug-drive limit on the M3 near Basingstoke in “one of the highest readings” Hampshire Police has ever seen has been given a three-year driving ban.

Lee Ainsworth, 34, of Lenten Street in Alton, who “showed total disregard for the lives of others”, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention and driving whilst unfit to drive through drugs at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on August 16.

The court heard how Ainsworth was driving a Ford Focus that collided into the back of a Jaguar on the M3, close to junction six for the Black Dam roundabout at around 3.45pm on April 28.

A passenger with Ainsworth in the Focus suffered a facial injury that required hospital treatment, while the male driver of the Jaguar and female passenger received minor injuries.

Toxicology tests revealed a product of cocaine in Ainsworth’s system – benzoylecgonine – was 79 times over the legal amount for the substance. He was found to have 3,951mcg per litre of blood. The legal amount is 50mcg per litre.

As well as the three-year ban, Ainsworth received a 12-month community order, and was ordered to undertake 180 hours of unpaid work.

He will also have to pay £85 in costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

PC Christopher Pike, of Hampshire’s Roads Policing Unit, said: “We were truly shocked when we received the test results.

“By getting behind the wheel that day, knowing how much he had taken, he showed total disregard for the lives of others and it is sheer luck that no one was seriously hurt or killed.

“No level of drink or drug driving is acceptable but this was on another scale to anything I have come across before and is one of the highest readings the force has seen.”

PC Pike added: “We hope this case sends a strong message that we will continue to target those who keep on ignoring these laws.

“The laws are there to protect people’s lives and drink or drug driving is not worth the risk.

“The consequences can be fatal.”

A man who watched a four-year-old girl being sexually abused online as it was streamed live to a global audience has escaped jail.

Gareth Gascoigne-Leopold, of Rectory Lane in Tadley, was given a five year prison sentence, suspended for two years, at Lewes Crown Court on Friday.

The 35-year-old was one of six people from the UK to watch the abuse in December 2015, broadcast via an online video streaming forum.

He was also given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, and ordered to attend a rehabilitation course and get internet sex offender’s treatment.

The girl, who is from Denmark, has since been identified and is being safeguarded by the authorities.

Gascoigne-Leopold’s arrest is part of a wider investigation being carried out by the National Crime Agency (NCA) into the streaming of child sexual abuse.

He was arrested at Gatwick airport having travelled back from Spain in December 2016, and charged with four offences on July 4 this year.

These were intentionally encouraging and/or assisting the commission of an offence, possessing an extreme pornographic image, possessing an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph, and possessing a prohibited image of a child.

Graham Ellis, from the NCA’s chile exploitation and online protection command, said: “The abuse this little girl suffered was unimaginable. That it was also streamed live around the world makes it even more horrific.

“The individuals who were logged into the forum to watch this abuse thought they would remain anonymous, but they thought wrong – there is no hiding place.

“Using all the powers and means available to us, we will identify and locate those who seek to exploit children for their own sexual pleasure and bring them to justice.”

The other five people from the UK identified at the same time as Gascoigne-Leopold have all been arrested, and are at various stages of the justice system.

FOLLOWING a trial at Winchester Crown Court, in relation to the death of Troy Harkness in Basingstoke, Jordan Clarke, 26, of no fixed address, has been found not guilty of murder by a jury.

Detective Inspector Howard Broadribb said: “Officers worked tirelessly to bring this investigation before the courts and our thoughts remain with Troy’s family.

We hope that the public remain reassured that we will always do everything in our power to investigate incidents such as these thoroughly, to support victims and their families, and to protect the wider public.”