Pub chain Stonegate faces fine after student Olivia Burt's death outside Durham's Missoula bar

The UK’s biggest pub chain has been convicted of a health and safety breach after the “avoidable” death of a student who was crushed outside a busy venue.

Olivia Burt, a 20-year-old life sciences first-year student at Durham University, suffered severe head injuries when a heavy decorative screen fell on her while she queued to get into the Missoula bar in the city in February 2018.

The venue was full of student sports teams on a Wednesday night and a crowd had gathered outside, waiting to get in.

Bar owner Stonegate was on trial at Teesside Crown Court charged with breaching health and safety legislation.

Ms Burt’s father Nigel, sitting in the public gallery, sighed with relief when the foreman returned a guilty verdict.

The firm now faces a fine and will be sentenced later on Thursday.

Jamie Hill KC, earlier summarised the prosecution case brought by Durham County Council, saying: “It is perhaps difficult to understand how it is that a 20-year-old woman could die in such a senseless and avoidable way.”

“All she was doing was standing with her friends, waiting to get in to a club which had targeted the student population as a way of filling their venue on Wednesday nights.”

Of Ms Burt, who was from Milford on Sea, Hampshire, he said: “She was an innocent woman doing nothing wrong and who deserved to be kept safe.

“She deserved to be protected by a large organisation that had a lot of written policies.

“It had risk assessments covering just about everything, policies that were supposed to cover all reasonably foreseeable eventualities.

“But the reality is that as soon as the venue, which had become the first choice venue for students on a Wednesday night, was confronted with more customers than they could accommodate within their own set limits, all of the planning and all the risk assessments came to nought.”

The heavy screen had fallen earlier in the evening as crowds gathered to get in, but it was lifted back into place and the chance to avert a tragedy was missed when it happened again around half an hour later, with fatal consequences.

Judge Howard Crowson will hear victims’ statements and will be given an assessment of costs before he sets the fine.

He thanked the jury for the “heavy burden” they took on in deciding the three-week case.

Olivia's parents criticised Stonegate outside court after the hearing.

They said in a statement: “Olivia was our only child and meant everything to us.

“It is incomprehensible to us how she could have died on a night out with friends whilst simply standing in a queue.

“Stonegate is the largest pub company in the UK.

“According to their annual report 2022, Stonegate doubled their revenue to £1.6 billion and their vision is ‘to raise the bar on the British pub by being the best for our guests, people and communities’.

“This did not happen at Missoula and led to the death of our wonderful daughter.

“Stonegate should never have used decorative fencing for crowd management.

“Stonegate knew the fencing was not safe after it nearly collapsed the previous year and collapsed just 30 minutes earlier on the night that Olivia died.

“Stonegate showed a complete dereliction of their duties and disregard for the safety of those attending, including Olivia.”

The family had to wait for over five years for justice and go through the trial process because the firm denied the health and safety breach.

They said: “It has been a long journey.

“Our heartbreak and pain have been prolonged by Stonegate pleading not guilty and fighting the case to trial.

“We have been waiting 1,976 days for Stonegate to be held criminally responsible.”

They added: “Olivia was at the start of her adult life in her first year at university and had so much to look forward to; this was taken away from her in the cruellest possible way.

“Our lives will never be the same again – we are heartbroken.”

Helen Lynch, Durham County Council’s head of legal and democratic services, said: “First and foremost, our thoughts remain with Olivia’s family.

“This has been a particularly difficult and lengthy process for them and we would like to thank them for their patience throughout.

“We are pleased with today’s outcome and hope it goes some way towards providing justice for Olivia and her family.”