Dreamspace anchorage was poor, jury told

Feb 17 2009 By Hilary Clixby, The Journal

THE anchorage system of the inflatable sculpture which broke free from its moorings killing two women was so inadequate it created  "a disaster waiting to happen" a court heard.

Claire Furmedge, 38 and Elizabeth Collings, 68, both died and others injured when the giant Dreamspace V artwork designed by Maurice Agis rose into the sky at the Riverside Park in Chester-le-Street, County Durham on July 23, 2006.

The 77-year-old artist owed a duty of care to ensure visitors were not exposed to risk to their health and safety, prosecutor Paul Sloan, QC, said in his closing speech at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

But the evidence showed anchorage system based on metal pegs and ropes designed and employed by Agis could not even cope with a relatively light gust of wind, he alleged.

And further prosecution evidence relating to the system actually used by Agis on the day "only goes to reinforce the undoubted and incontrovertible fact that the anchorage system was inadequate and unsafe – a disaster waiting to happen," Mr Sloan alleged. "The cumulative effect of a whole series of very serious failings at the design and setting up stages of itself, say the prosecution amounts to gross negligence and this defendant’s conduct was criminal," he said.