A businessman has denied causing the death of a 17-year-old painter in a ladder fall and told a jury he ’cried for a week’ after the boy died.

Colin Jeffery said victim, Mason Beau Jennians, known as Beau, was working for himself and was not an employee when he fell 22 feet to his death while painting a house in Devon.

He told Exeter Crown Court he advised Beau not to work on his own at The Coach House in Abbotskerswell and ordered his staff not to lend him ladders if he wanted to borrow them.

He said he had priced up the job but then passed it over to Beau, who was due to pay him a fifth of the final fee.

Jeffery, aged 58, of Durham Close, Paignton, denies manslaughter and failing to ensure the safety of an employee working at height.

The jury were told he has admitted four charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act of failing to ensure the safety of employees on other jobs between April 2014 and February 2015.

The prosecution say he exploited the bravado and naivety of young workers like Beau who worked at height using ladders rather than scaffolding so he could undercut competitors.

Beau was moonlighting for Jeffery three or four days a week while taking an electrical course at South Devon College and was often sent onto roofs without any safety training or precautions.

Just days before his death he had taken a selfie from the roof of a house where he was painting a chimney while the only thing stopping him from falling was a piece of rope tied around the chimney.

Keen skateboarder Beau, who had a second part-time job at McDonalds, was found unconscious at the foot of the ladder by Mr Hoyle, the owner of The Coach House, where he was working on his own on December 4, 2014. He died the next day.

Jeffery said Beau had worked for his Utterly Gutterly company for some weeks but by the time of his death he was taking on his own commissions, including The Coach House.

He said he had met the owners and offered a price because Beau did not have the expertise to do that part of the job, but then handed over the project to him.

He said: ’I told him where to position the ladders and such like and generally showed him what needed painting and washing down. He was going to be paid and gave me 20 per cent.

’On the morning on December 4 I phoned him. I had not been able to get hold of him for a while so I said: "You’re not dead, then" and he replied I could not get rid of him that easily.

’He said he did not have anyone with him and I said he should not do the job. I told him to tell the owners it was too cold and the paint would not adhere to the wood.

’I told him not to go on unless someone was with him, but he did. I told my man at another job not to give him any ladders if he turned up.

’I got a call from Mr Hoyle saying Beau was on the floor at the foot of the ladder and going in and out of consciousness. I asked him to pass the phone to Beau but he said he was with the paramedics.

’He asked if I had his mother’s number. I said I did not but knew where she lived. He asked if it would alter the job and I replied: "Are you real?".’

Jeffery said he broke the news to Beau’s mother and took her to Derriford, where he was being treated. He said he could not remember telling police at the hospital he was Beau’s boss.

He said: ’I could not believe what had happened. I treated Beau like a son. I did not want this to happen but it had happened. I could not get my head round it.

’I am devastated by Beau’s death. I still am. I cried for a week afterwards and could not work for a month. Looking back, I should have gone over with him and forced him not to go. I tried my best but Beau being Beau, he needed the money.’