A Dickensian employer has been jailed for causing the death of a 17-year-old boy who fell to his death from a ladder while working on the eaves of a two-storey building.

Colin Jeffery exploited naive youngsters who were starting work for the first time and made them work on roofs and chimneys without any safety equipment.

He was jailed after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 17-year-old student Beau Jennians, who was found fatally injured after falling 22-foot from a ladder while working on his own at a house in a Devon village.

A judge branded him as callous, arrogant, cavalier and utterly reckless and his safety breaches were as bad as they could possibly be.

Beau was moonlighting from his electrician’s course at college and had been working for Jeffery’s Utterly Gutterly for four months when he died in December 2014.

Jeffery undercut reputable builders by refusing to use scaffolding on any of his jobs and exploited the bravado of teenagers like Beau, who had taken a selfie of himself hanging by a rope from a chimney just days before his death.

He had fallen off a ladder just weeks before but escaped injury when he landed in shrubbery. Instead of improving safety, Jeffery told him off for spilling paint on a customer’s driveway.

When Beau died, Jeffery tried to claim he was not his employer and the teenager was working for himself. He even tried to peddle this lie to his mother as he drove her to hospital to see her dying son.

His claims were rejected by a jury at Exeter Crown Court who found him guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.

Keen skateboarder Beau, who had a second part-time job at McDonalds, fell off a ladder as he was painting fascia board under the gutter at The Coach House in Abbotskerswell, South Devon.

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

He has admitted four charges of failing to ensure the safety of employees at other sites between April 2014 and February 2015.

He was jailed for five years by Judge Graham Cottle, who told him: ‘Your attitude to safety was cavalier in the extreme and resulted in this tragic and awful outcome.

‘You made a brazen attempt to escape responsibility by insisting all the people who worked for you were self employed. Even in the car on the way to Derriford Hospital you were insisting to Beau’s mother that he was self employed.

‘Not only was there no foundation whatsoever for that assertion, it was appallingly callous and disrespectful even to mention it at what must have been a terrible time for her. I’m afraid it underlines what sort of man you are.

‘You rarely worked yourself and more often were seen sleeping or smoking in your van while young men toiled on ladders on roofs, often in highly dangerous situations.

‘You took the view if someone was injured or killed it was no concern of yours because they were self-employed and therefore responsible for their own safety.

‘Your behaviour towards these young men was utterly shameful. You exposed them to totally unacceptable risks of falling to their deaths from considerable heights as they worked for you on numerous projects.

‘They were all vulnerable by reason of their age and complete lack of any relevant experience. They were cheap labour and you exploited them. Anyone with any appreciation of the risk would not have exposed themselves like that, but they did so because they were young.

‘You never gave them any meaningful training or carried out risk assessments or plan the work. You gave no thought to health and safety and on December 14, 2014, the inevitable happened.

‘You exposed Beau to the very obvious risk of death by requiring him to carry out that work from a ladder. Your attitude throughout was arrogant, cavalier and utterly reckless.

‘In consequence a young man with his whole life in front of him paid the ultimate price. He was a kind, hard working young and with a very promising future and his while life ahead of him.

‘He was taken from those who were near and dear to him at a very young age. You must take full responsibility for his death.

‘I take a very serious view of this case. Not only was the degree of negligence so bad it amounted to this offence, it was as bad as could possibly have been.’

During the trial the jury heard from a string of young workers who had been employed by Jeffery previously but left because they were worried about the lack of safety or not being paid.

Home owners who had employed Utterly Gutterly also told how they were alarmed to see young workers on the roofs of three-storey buildings without any safety precautions.

 Mr David Sapiecha, prosecuting, said Jeffery had been grossly negligent and branded him ‘uncaring and cavalier’ in the way he exposed inexperienced youngsters to serious risks.  

Jeffery ran his company from home with no documentation. He paid employees cash in hand. They had no contracts of employment and he paid no National Insurance or PAYE. 

Mr Mark Jackson, mitigating, said Jeffery is an ex-soldier who chose to use ladders rather than scaffolding because it was the only way he could get business, rather than out of greed.

 He said he misjudged the potential dangers because he has no fear of heights and did not realise the risks.