Hugo Boss mirror death: Safety checks 'not done' at store

Health and safety checks did not take place at a designer store where a boy died after being crushed by a free-standing mirror, a court heard.

Barry Berlin, prosecuting, said there had been "systematic failures" in implementing health and safety checks at the Hugo Boss store in Bicester.

Austen Harrison, four, suffered fatal head injuries at the outlet in Bicester, Oxfordshire, in June 2013.

The company appeared for a sentencing hearing at Oxford Crown Court.

Mr Berlin said the mirror had "negligently been left free standing without any fixings."

The court heard monthly health and safety checks were introduced in Hugo Boss stores by 2000 but these did not take place in the Bicester store.

The company previously admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations.

Austen, of Crawley, West Sussex, had been playing with the 120kg unfixed steel-framed fitting-room mirror, which toppled on to him while his father tried on a suit.

He had emergency surgery to relieve pressure on his brain but died four days later in hospital after life-support was switched off.

An inquest jury at Oxford Coroner's Court earlier this year returned a narrative verdict.

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, representing Hugo Boss, said the company "has done all it can".

"First to acknowledge those failings, to express genuine, heartfelt remorse and also demonstrate a determination to put things right and ensure there cannot be a repeat of what went wrong."

He said the company had settled a civil claim with Austen's family.

The hearing is expected to conclude on Friday.