Dreamspace creator ‘didn’t put art before safety’

Feb 18 2009 by Garry Willey, The Journal

CREATOR Maurice Agis did not cause the Dreamspace tragedy by putting “art before safety”, his barrister told manslaughter jurors.

The 77-year-old had been “passionate” about the inflatable installation which flew from its mooring ropes and killed two visitors at Chester-le-Street’s Riverside Park, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Timothy Langdale QC said Agis never imagined the disaster would happen when he set up the 50 metre by 50 metre attraction he had developed over more than two decades.

Neither did he hide anything during a safety briefing before Dreamspace opened at the park in July 2006, the court was told.

In his closing speech, Mr Langdale said jurors could only convict Agis of manslaughter if they were sure any negligence was so gross it became criminal – or that the three ropes found to have been cut did not play a part in the devastating accident.

He said: “The prosecution sought to say to you, this was a case of art before safety. What does that mean? That Mr Agis was so concerned about his artwork he was prepared to take a risk with people’s lives?

“Prepared to take a risk that Dreamspace might take off so he didn’t bother to put in enough ropes?”

Instead, Mr Langdale said jurors should ask whether Agis would have risked his “beloved” creation taking off and being destroyed.

He said: “The evidence shows he was passionate and committed about his work and wanted it to be enjoyed by the public. That is hardly consistent with a man who is ready, according to prosecutors, to risk people’s lives.”

Mr Langdale also scotched prosecution claims the artist may have deliberately held back information during safety discussions with Chester-le-Street Council about his earlier structure Colourspace being blown away during a freak storm in Germany in 1986.

He urged jurors not to draw a “adverse inference” after Agis stood by his right not to go into the witness box or call any defence evidence.

And he told the jury only certainty that Agis had been so negligent his behaviour was criminal could lead to manslaughter convictions.

He said: “We know Dreamspace lifted off the ground because something happened that the ropes and anchors could not withstand. What it was, whether a strong gust of wind, the effect of thermal lift, or a combination of the two, we know the defendant did not want this to happen and he was not looking for it to happen.

“It is whether he was being as prudent as he should be in the precautions he put in place.

“We know that his case is that he did what he did because – even if it turned out to be wrong – his genuine judgement was it was safe.”

Turning to the cause of the tragedy, Mr Langdale said the jury must consider what impact the three ropes later found to have been cut had made that day.

He said: “If you consider you can’t be sure the three cut ropes did not play a significant part in causing Dreamspace to lift off the ground – in other words if it may reasonably be the case that but for those ropes being cut Dreamspace would not have lifted – then causation is not proved.

“The cut ropes, whatever conclusion you come to about them, cannot be laid at the door of Mr Agis. There does not appear to be any suggestion he knew ropes were cut or indeed had any reason to suppose ropes were cut.”

Elizabeth Collings, 68, from Seaham, County Durham, and Claire Furmedge, 38, from Chester-le-Street, fell to their deaths when Dreamspace broke free. Several others were badly injured.

Agis, from Bethnal Green, London, denies two manslaughter charges and a health and safety breach.

The trial continues.