The director of a property firm has been given a suspended jail sentence after an apprentice joiner from Trearddur Bay was killed.

18 year-old Chloe Bidwell was renovating a house in Bangor when she was crused by a stack of wooden boards in December 2023.

A Health and Safety Investigation found Varcity Living Ltd, a locally based management company, had failed to provide a safe system fo work nor any training or supervision.

Llandudno magistrates heard Miss Bidwell had been working on her own at the time and her body was found after she failed to respond to messages or return home.

It's believed she may have been trying to retrieve a plywood board from a stack of around 28 boards, which was standing vertically and unsecured against a wall, with each board potentially weighing up to around 30kg.

There had been no attempt to secure the stack of boards in their upright position and the risk of them falling had not been identified.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the failures of Varcity Living Ltd to provide safe systems of work and to provide adequate information, instruction, training or superivision were "attributable to the neglect" of company director David Horrocks.

Investigators at the site on Deiniol Road found there was inadequate site superivison, no suitable policy or procedure for working alone or the storage of board materials and inadequate risk assessment prior to Miss Bidwell's death.

HSE guidance states that stacking building materials must be stored safely so they cannot topple or roll over - and that boards must be stored horizontally on a level surface using suitable pallets or battens and never stacked on edge without adequate support.

They add that lone working occurs, there should be increased training, supervision and monitoring, including procedures to confirm a lone worker has returned safely once their task is complete.

Varcity Living Ltd was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay a further £10,080 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Horrocks, of Y Felinheli, was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £7,886 in costs.

Following sentencing on Thursday, Chloe's mother Clare Stephenson Brown said: “Chloe was only 18, full of life, energy, and determination."

"She had so many talents and dreams: a skilled joiner, a rugby player, a surfer, a skydiver, and a young woman who was about to travel the world and begin her journey towards becoming a firefighter. She was wise beyond her years, brave, and incredibly grounded."

“Chloe died instantly and alone. The fact that she was by herself in those final moments is something that causes us unbearable pain and something we will carry forever. Knowing how full of life she was and how much she had yet to experience makes her loss impossible to accept.”

“As a family, we feel like Chloe was let down at work, and because of that, we have lost her forever. Our lives will never, ever be the same again."

"We just hope that those responsible truly understand the enormity of what has happened, not only the loss of Chloe’s life, but the devastation caused to her family, her friends, and her community."

"As a family, we hope this case is not viewed simply in terms of the outcome in court, but as a stark reminder of the real human cost behind it. The impact of losing Chloe reaches far beyond any sentence and will stay with us forever."

"We urge employers to look beyond compliance and truly consider the responsibility they hold for the lives in their care. Safety must be meaningful in practice, ensuring risks are properly managed, lone working is safe, and that everyone who goes to work returns home.”

HSE inspector Rachael Newman added: "Chloe Bidwell was a young apprentice joiner at the very beginning of her career."

"She had every right to expect that her employer would take the basic steps needed to keep her safe at work. Her family had every right to expect that when Chloe went to work, she would come home."

"The tragedy of Chloe’s death is made all the more jarring because it was so wholly avoidable. Apprentices should not be working alone on a construction site, and Chloe died in circumstances which should never have been able to happen."

"Chloe’s employer, Varcity Living Limited, had no safe storage system in place for the dangerously heavy boards which were stacked upright and completely unsecured."

"Furthermore, they had failed to provide the necessary information, instruction, training, and supervision for their young apprentice."

"Today’s result cannot bring Chloe back, but we hope the sentence handed down brings some solace to her family, whose lives carry on without her. They remain in our thoughts, and we offer them our deepest condolences."