Joy Morton broke down as Mr Justice Peregrine Simon ordered Chesterfield construction company TJ Beighton Ltd to pay the fine and costs of £10,000 after they admitted two charges of breaching health and safety regulations.

Her son John, aged 19, from Barlborough, was buried alive after the trench caved in at a building site in Carlisle Street East, Grimesthorpe.

Daniel Thompson suffered a punctured lung, fractured elbow and broken pelvis and spent three weeks in hospital.

The pair had been trying to help the site foreman, Mark Winter, install a water treatment tank on July 13 2004.

Jeremy Baker QC said the company did not have proper equipment on site, health and safety training was inadequate and the company's risk assessment was not sufficient.

Half-an-hour before the incident, Winter was warned by colleague Jethroe Heathcote not to let anyone go down to the 10ft deep trench because it was unsafe, said Mr Baker.

The firm had two previous HSE prohibition notices over similar faults on other jobs.

Director Richard Palmer, responsible for company health and safety, and foreman Mark Winter, were fined after admitting breaching health and safety regulations.

Palmer, 36, of Worrall Drive, Worrall, was fined £2,500 and told to pay costs of £1,000.

Winter, 33, of Lincoln Way, North Winfield, Chesterfield had been cleared of manslaughter by a jury. He was fined £750 with £150 costs.

John's father, Clive, said the fines were disgusting: "We feel badly let down by the justice system. It appears that in the eyes of the law life is cheap. We have lost the most precious person in our lives and they haven't really been punished."

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