A FIRM, which merged with Devizes based Aster Group in 2012, has been heavily fined following the death of a five year old girl who became trapped in a lift.

Synergy Housing Limited of Link House, Poole pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £1m and ordered to pay costs of £40,000.

Synergy Housing accepted that its duties were not to be delegated and that the failings of Aster Property were part of its breach.

The charge against Aster Property Limited of Sarsen Court, Horton Avenue, Devizes, was ordered to be left to lie on the court file and was not separately sentenced.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Alexys Brown’s family moved into the property in 2009 of which Synergy Housing Limited, as part of the Aster Group, became the owner. The property had an internal lift used by Alexys’ disabled brother.

In August 2015, Alexys used the lift to get her brother’s phone. She put her head through a hole in a panel and as the lift moved, she got stuck between the lift and the ground floor ceiling.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found a catalogue of failures by the three companies; Synergy Housing as the Brown family’s landlord which had primary responsibility for the safety of the lift at the property; Aster Property as the company to which responsibility for arranging lift maintenance issues fell; and Orona who were responsible for the relevant lift maintenance and repair work.

Speaking after the hearing, Lorraine Brown, the mother of Alexys Brown said:

“The last three years have been unimaginable; the loss of Alexys has impacted our lives and our children’s lives immensely.

“To have this investigation brought to an end has now offered us some closure. Despite this part of our story coming to an end, the outcome will never be what we all wish for, nothing will ever bring Alexys back to us.

“Lexi was a loving, care free, angelic little girl who was full of energy, love and laughter. I hope that what has happened to our family sheds light on others in order to avoid anything like this ever happening again.

“We are now looking forward and raising our children with memories, photos, videos and stories of their sister.”

HSE inspector Leo Diez said: “These companies failed in their duties to put systems in place to ensure the lift in the Brown’s family home was kept safe – more could have been done by Synergy, Aster and Orona."