The brothers of a man who died when he fell through the roof of a grain drier have branded fines handed down to his employers as laughable'.

Devizes based TH White and Richard Stratton were each ordered to pay £35,000 in fines and £8,000 costs after breaching health and safety regulations over the death of Timothy Kynaston.

The 50-year-old of Down Avon, Bradford on Avon, died in the fall at Manor Farm, Kingston Deverill, near Warminster, in July 2004 as he worked on the roof of the barn.

But speaking for the family Marius Kynaston, 41, said "It is not even the salary for a year for the managing director of TH White."

He said "We feel the company should have been prosecuted for corporate manslaughter. We came here knowing whatever fine they got would be laughable.

"TH White Installations are going to make a profit of £50,000 this year, we heard. The fine is no even going to negate that profit.

"TH White as a company has an annual profit of £1.3 million and net assets of £13 millions. £35,000 is like a drop in the ocean.

"Mr Stratton has a turnover of £1m and net assets of £1.2 millions. He is a millionaire farmer."

Tragically the case came the day after he and his brothers Chris, 45, and Dominic, 43, had buried their oldest brother Andrew, who died of brain cancer, and a few days after Tim's girlfriend Kerry died from what is thought to be sudden adult death syndrome.

Earlier a judge at Swindon crown court was told how father-of-two Mr Kynaston, who had worked for TH White Installations for a year, died as he serviced the grain.

Part of the job involved going on the roof of the barn, which been installed by his employers in 1979, to check the exhausts.

To get to them he had to negotiate a wooden plank about seven inches wide which had been in place for 25 years.

Richard Tutt, prosecuting, told Swindon crown court that as it was and exposed to the elements there had been a build up of algae and moss on parts of it.

He said the fragile roof was made of corrugated asbestos cement sheets with a number of one metre square corrugated Perspex areas allowing light into the barn.

"At about 11am Mr Kynaston went on to the roof to check the exhausts were working correctly. Minutes later those in the barn below heard a sharp crack," he said.

Mr Kynaston had fallen through one of the Perspex squares landing on the concrete floor eight metres below. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Before he left to go on the job Mr Tutt said the victim's line manager Andrew Lee told him Be careful going on the planks across the roof' showing an awareness of the possible danger.

And after the accident when Mr Lee looked at pictures of the scene he branded it an accident in the making' and the access to the exhausts was highly unsatisfactory'.

Mr Tutt said despite being warned in each of the previous two years said Stratton had failed to carry out proper risk assessments at the farm.

And TH White also had not carried out a site specific risk assessment relying on an ad hoc basis of workers reporting dangers on their time sheets.

He said that TH White Installations had made a loss over the past two financial years but was a wholly owned subsidiary of TH White Holding which employs 450 people, has assets of £13m and profits of £1.3m Stratton's company RF Stratton and Co, a partnership owned by his family, was also running at a loss but had assets of £1.2m.

During the last financial year £64,000 was taken out of the company to go to the partners.

TH White of Newstead Road, Devizes, and Stratton, of Manor Farm Kingston Deverill, near Warminster, both pleaded guilty to failing to discharge their duty imposed under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Stratton also pleaded guilty to a second charge of failing to discharge his duty to not expose Mr Kynaston to risk.

All three offences relate to a period between New Years Day 2000 and July 20, 2004.

Christian Du Cann, for TH White, said that his clients accept they fell well short of their duty as employers and accept their responsibility.

He said at no stage did anyone consider the walkway to present a serious risk until after the accident.

Had staff wanted to use a cherry picker to do the job they were available, he said, as were other safety devices.

He said the company was running at a loss but was on course to make a £50,000 profit this year and the fine should be based on that and not the parent company.

Stephen Killalea, for Stratton, said the barn had been installed by TH White in about 1979 without any walkway or other safety device.

He had caused the planks to be used not realising they may not be safe and thinking if they were not THW White, who designed, fitted and serviced the barn, would do something.

At the time of the accident he said Stratton's son, who had been the agricultural, was in the process of drawing up general risk assessments for the business.

The farm had been in the family since 1865, he said, but was currently going through tough times and made a loss in the past two years.

Although net assets were more than a million pounds he said none were in a liquid form and his client would need to take out a loan to pay the fine.

Passing sentence Recorder Neil Ford QC said "In my judgement the risk to life or the risk of serious injury was obvious and should have been appreciated and acted upon."

He added "The fines imposed are not and can't be any reflection of the value of the life lost. The life lost was priceless."

Imposing the fines he imposed a 12 month jail term in default if Stratton failed to pay the money.