A digger driver whose negligence caused the death of a 22-year-old engineer on a Midland building site has been given a suspended sentence.

Mark Handford, aged 22, from Shirley, died instantly when the one ton bucket from an excavation digger fell as he helped to carry out levelling work on Claybrook Drive in Redditch on August 12, 2009.

Jonathan Gold, 48, of Wingfield Road, Coleshill, pleaded guilty to one count of an offence under section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act for failing to ensure the safety of a non employee and was sentenced to seven months in prison suspended for two years.

He must also carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Birmingham Crown court heard Gold, who was working as a subcontractor on the site and trading as Gold Plant Hire, was emptying the excavator bucket into a HGV, when another worker approached and he switched off the engine.

The lorry moved away and at that point, Gold should have restarted the engine and lowered and retracted the arm. Mr Handford wandered underneath the bucket and sustained fatal head injuries when it fell.

Judge Paul Farrer QC said: “The engine should not have been turned off with the arm in a raised position and you knew that.”

In September 2010 an inquest heard there were issues with the inspection and maintenance of equipment provided by Kingsbury Transport and Plant, for the digger driver’s use, which contributed to the bucket becoming detached from its fixing point on the arm of the excavator causing Mr Handford’s death.

A jury returned a verdict of accidental death and Kingsbury Transport and Plant settled the civil case led by Irwin Mitchell in May 2011.

Julie Handford, Mark’s mother, said: “No sentence would have been enough for the devastation that has been caused by Mark’s death.

“We are pleased that Jon Gold has finally been held accountable for Mark’s death – it’s taken three and a half years.

“The court case been very upsetting and stressful on top of coping with losing Mark.

“We wish he’d had a custodial sentence and I thought if you killed someone you would have a tougher sentence that that, but the judge said he was of previously good character.

“We can put the legal process behind us now and just carry on missing Mark.

“Mark was wonderful and we are extremely proud to be his family, he was a wonderful son, brother and grandson. We miss him everyday.”

The victim’s father Paul, a printer aged 54, said: “Mark was a great sportsman and had an insatiable love for life.

“We still miss him everyday and continue to find it hard to accept the fact that he has been taken away from us.

“Since we lost Mark, our main focus has been on finding out who or what was responsible for his death and also ensuring steps were taken by those responsible to prevent any similar tragedies from happening in the future.

“Nothing will bring Mark back or make up for our huge loss but we hope the sentence raises awareness of the importance of all employees considering their actions in the workplace to protect their colleagues. That way, Mark’s death will not be completely in vain.”

The family will be attending a Workers Memorial Day at Birmingham St Philip’s Cathedral on April 28 to pay tribute to the hundreds of victims of workplace accidents.