A sheriff has slammed a further delay in the case of a Tayside businessman accused of putting residents of an Angus house at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a badly fitted stove.
Sheriff Gregor Murray said he was “less than impressed” a plea was not on the table of Forfar Sheriff Court when the case of Fife man Justin Jackson called before him on Monday over charges dating back almost two years.
Jackson, from Fife was not present in court, but a legal representative said an agreed plea is in the offing and the 47-year-old accused has been ordered to appear again at Forfar later this week.
He denies a charge that he knowingly or recklessly engaged in a practice which contravened professional diligence while fitting a stove at a property in North Esk Road, Edzell, between June 18 and July 28 2016 by failing to provide a carbon monoxide detection system and put the occupants at risk of poisoning by failing to secure the joint where a flexible flue liner met the chimney cowl.
Jackson, of Whinpark Place, Newburgh, is also charged that, being a trader at the time, on August 25 2016 at a house in Hill Terrace, Arbroath, and elsewhere that he made a misleading statement on his website that Stove Safe was located in Perth, knowing that was false.
The summary complaint he faces also alleges that he made a further misleading claim on his website that services were provided by “a team of HETAS qualified installers with over 15 years’ experience”, knowing that claim to be false.
Depute fiscal Jill Drummond told the court: “This will resolve and discussions are ongoing. The plea has in fact been agreed, the issue is that Mr Jackson appears to take issue with what will be narrated.”
Sheriff Murray said: “I understood a plea would be agreed I am less than impressed that this isn’t sorting itself out today.
“I expect the matter to be resolved one way or the other when it calls next.
“If the Crown’s narration is not accepted then it will be a simple case of setting a proof in mitigation.”
