Families of two workmen who were ‘cooked to death’ in a bread oven reveal heartbreaking aftermath of tragedy and how much compensation they were given by bakery

It was supposed to be a routine job when David Mayes and Ian Erickson were called in to fix a bakery’s broken down industrial oven.

But the unsuspecting workmen had no idea that greedy bosses, whose only concern was to maximise profits, were sending them into a death trap.

As soon as the pair climbed into the 75ft-long machine to retrieve a missing part their fate was sealed – and within minutes they were roasted alive in temperatures of more than 100C.

The tragedy at Fresha Bakeries in Thurmaston, Leicestershire sent shockwaves through the local community and beyond when the full horror of their gruesome deaths emerged in court.

Justice, of sorts, appeared to have been done when the firm and three directors were ordered to pay fines and costs of more than £500,000.

But 27 years on, relatives told for the first time how they had not received a penny in compensation and calls for manslaughter charges to be brought against those responsible fell on deaf ears.

Mr Mayes’ family said loved ones had been treated with contempt even after their deaths.

They revealed how, as a final insult, Mr Mayes ended up receiving what amounted to ‘a pauper’s funeral’ after bosses scrimped on their obligation to fund the costs and refused to even pay for a headstone to mark his grave.

Re-living the nightmare this week, Mr Mayes’ brother-in-law Keith Harris told MailOnline: ‘It is still very raw after all these years.

‘It should never have happened. The company was hammered with fines but not hard enough.

‘We wanted to get manslaughter charges brought against them.’

Mr Harris, who is married to Mr Mayes’ sister Julie, told how the much-loved labourer came from a large ‘close knit family’.

Speaking at his home in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, he said: ‘David’s family didn’t get a penny in compensation. He was entitled to nothing.

‘He was single, he had no children, and he owned a house.

‘If you die at work in an accident the company has to pay for a funeral but they only paid for a basic one and wouldn’t pay for a headstone.’

Mr Mayes has two surviving sisters and two brothers who live in the area while a half-brother Bill Mayes has since died.

Another family member described Mr Mayes as a ‘popular and friendly man’ who had ‘done very well for himself.’

A local said of the horror: ‘It happened nearly three decades ago but it is one of those terrible stories you never forget.’

Tragedy struck on Saturday May 18 1998 – the day of that year’s FA Cup final where Arsenal went on to beat Newcastle United 2-0 through goals by Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka.

On the day of the disaster, father-of-two Mr Erickson, a 47-year-old engineer from Walsall, West Midlands, had told how he was looking forward to getting the job done in good time so that he could get back home to watch the match with his sons.

Mr Mayes, 44, from Leicester, had told friends the night before: ‘I have a challenge in the morning. I am going for it – the money is good.’

The pair were called in after a grid on the cover belt of the bakery’s massive oven, which carried bread trays slowly through, had dislodged and fallen to the bottom.

Their task was to recover it and put it back in place which involved climbing inside.

But within five minutes they were relaying terrified messages over their walkie-talkies, saying the oven was too hot.

There was no way of reversing the belt and the pair were trapped on its journey through the oven.

It was 17 minutes – the time it took for the conveyor to pass through the oven – before other workers were able to help the men.

Mr Erickson was pulled out at the other end and died on the factory floor in front of horrified workmates.

Mr Mayes, 47, is believed to have passed out in the roasting heat and became caught up in the machinery.

He died from 80 per cent burns and multiple fractures.

It emerged during the trial at Leicester Crown Court in July 2001 that bosses should have left the oven – which baked bread at temperatures of 260C – to cool down for 12 hours before allowing the work to be undertaken.

But Mr Mayes and Mr Erickson were sent in just two hours after the oven had been switched off.

The company would have lost £1,120 for every hour the oven was shut down.

Mr Mayes and Mr Erickson were unaware of the danger as they crawled into the oven because fans had cooled its outer reaches to 40C.

They did not know that temperatures at its core remained at more than 100C.

It also emerged that management had decided to use their own staff to save £2,500 quoted by the manufacturers to carry out repairs.

Managers decided the workers could go in through the oven’s entrance hatch to avoid the cost of removing side panels.

During the hearing the court was told the pair were condemned to endure an agonising death by the decision to carry out repairs on the cheap.

Prosecutor Anthony Barker QC told how the tragedy happened because the bakery put productivity above safety.

Describing the horror he told the court: ‘They were trapped. There was no system of reversing the conveyor and no system of getting them out of the oven.

‘The work should have been carried out in temperatures of no more than 40 degrees, but the gauges would have read 100 degrees.

‘Those men went in when it was hot enough to boil water, in such circumstances where serious injury or death was inevitable.’

He told how the pair entered the oven with unsuitable equipment saying: ‘The men were provided with a thin suit, hat and gloves, with protected knee and elbow padding. But these were last-minute thoughts.’

Experts told how the heat would have been even more unbearable because the men were operating in ‘a very confined space’.

It was found the work had been carried out with no detailed planning, no risk assessment and no reference to relevant industry guidance.

There had also been a lack of training and supervision.

The court heard that when the firm’s chief engineer Dennis Masters, then aged 45, was asked after the tragedy if he had set up a ‘permit to work’ system, he replied: ‘F***, I forgot. I’ll sort it out now.’

Defence lawyer Coleman Treacy QC, said during the hearing: ‘This was an avoidable accident. The company acknowledges it was at fault.

‘It failed in its duty to both men, and that has caused untold heartache to the families. For this we publicly apologise.’

At the time, Mr Mayes parents William and May Mays now both deceased, spoke of their horror over the tragedy.  

Mr Mayes said: ‘It’s something that should never have been allowed to happen. If them men had accepted their responsibility and who was in charge they could have seen how dangerous it was.

‘They asked David if he would accompany the engineer because he was an outdoor man and had done pot holing.

‘Consequently, he wasn’t claustrophobic. So you can see why he was asked if he would go in.’

‘They were going into the bottom chamber and they were going to ride the conveyor along. It was absolutely horrific.

‘They had to carry own right through the oven until they got to the other end. Of course by then they were completely burned to death.

‘He was a good son. He always used to come up and say ‘Come on pop, we’re going for a pint.’ I miss that.’

Mrs Mayes said: ‘They were looking for temporary workers at the bakers so he went and got a job, and he enjoyed it.

‘He told his dad that he thoroughly enjoyed working at the bakery.

‘The oven wasn’t turned off till nine and my lad went in just after eleven.

‘A couple of hours cooling down it wasn’t nowhere near sufficient, it should have been closed down for getting onto ten, twelve hours.

‘My lad trusted the engineer and he trusted the chief engineer. They told him to go into the oven and he went in.

‘They were trying to raise them on heir walkie-talkies then Erickson came onto the phone saying ‘Get us out’ and that is the last they heard of him. Everything went dead.

‘I would just like somebody somewhere to be held really responsible for this, and I mean responsible, not just money.

‘David as a son was a good son, a good son. If his father or I needed anything he was there.

‘He used to come and take his dad out for a pint, that sort of thing.’

His parents attend the trial, no mater how painful it would be to hear the evidence.

Mrs Mayes said: ‘It feels as if we owed it to David. I didn’t want to miss anything that I think will let them get off.’

‘It took the bakery three years to publicly apologise and after three years that is a bit hollow.

‘But is it over now. That’s it, we can put him to rest.’

Fresha Bakeries and its trading arm Harvestime Ltd were fined a total of £350,000 between them after admitting breaching health and safety regulations.

Fresha’s managing director John Bridson, then aged 54, of Hale, in Cheshire, was fined £20,000 after he admitted two charges of failing to provide a safe system of work.

Production director, Brian Jones, then aged 60, of Hartford, Cheshire, was fined £1,000 after he pleaded guilty to a single count of the same offence.

Masters was fined £2,000 after he admitted one charge of failing to take reasonable care for others at work.

Costs of more than £150,000 were also ordered to be paid.

Bosses went on to launch an unsuccessful appeal to reduce the fines handed down because of the impact it would have on the company’s finances.

In the wake of the tragedy the company was sold on to a firm which was later declared bankrupt.