EXCLUSIVE: LITTLE Tommy Lee Redford is lucky to be alive. The 19-month-old toddler needed four painful skin-graft operations and a team of highly-skilled plastic surgeons to repair his damaged fingers, burned to the bone in a terrifying electrical accident at a Melksham pub.

But the owners of the Pickled Pilot pub in Bowerhill, accused of breaking health and safety laws designed to prevent such incidents, walked free from court this week because of a mistake-ridden West Wiltshire District Council investigation.

Outraged parents Lisa and Charlie Redford spoke of their 18-month battle for justice and feelings of crushing despair at this week's ruling by magistrates in Trowbridge, which saw Bowerhill couple David and Janet Ponsford cleared of two charges relating to Tommy's accident in May 2001. Bar manager Samantha Lidding-ton was convicted of failing to notify the authorities of the accident, which did not come to the attention of health and safety officers until five days later.

Tommy, now three years old, was playing in the pub's family room with seven-year-old brother Ben just hours after the family returned from a three-week dream holiday to Florida.

The toddler suffered electrical burns to his hand when he touched a live cable in a portable electric socket, which was lying in the pub's skittle alley.

His fingers were burnt to the bone, nerve endings exposed and he was without a pulse for more than a minute. His frantic parents battled to keep him alive until paramedics arrived

Rushed to the Royal United Hospital in Bath, Tommy was immediately transferred to the specialist burns unit at Frenchay Hospital, in Bristol.

Mrs Redford, 29, said the court ruling made a mockery of the criminal justice system and the Ponsfords had escaped taking the blame for the accident because of a legal technicality.

She said: "All I wanted to do was walk out in the street and hold my head high knowing we had justice.

"To be let off on a technicality of law is scandalous. I just want them to say sorry, that is all I have ever wanted.

"Accidents happen all the time at places like the Pickled Pilot but next time somebody's child gets hurt people will think there is no point reporting it if this is all that happens.

"This whole episode has left me drained. I have no energy left at all. I was so upset I cried. I woke up the next day full of anger."

Husband Charlie, 29, a salesman in Melksham, said he was left dumbfounded at the verdict.

"I was gobsmacked, we were sure it was going our way. We both came back from court feeling as though we had gone ten rounds in the ring. It is so hard to keep explaining to people what happened.

"I am cross with the way it was handled. Council officers are supposed to know what they are doing."

Tommy will have to undergo painful operations and skin grafts until he is 16 years old. Suffering nightmares about the accident Tommy's older brother Ben is scarred with memories of his brother's brush with death. Tommy still wakes up every night screaming.

Charges could not stand up

PUB owners David and Janet Ponsford escaped conviction for breaching serious health and safety laws at their Melksham pub on a legal technicality.

West Wiltshire District Council health and safety officers proved the couple, of Soho Farm, Bowerhill, were proprietors of the Pickled Pilot pub in Bowerhill, but crucially were unable to convince magistrates they were also employers.

Charges of exposing a person not in employment to risk of injury and failing to implement proper health and safety procedures, which the Ponsfords both denied, are directed solely at employers.

Vital witness statements were inadmissible in court because officers did not carry out interviews under caution.

Toby Halliwell, prosecuting for the district council, told magistrates on Tuesday how substandard electrical appliances were found at the Ponsford's pub when officers inspected.

An accident log book seized had only one entry and Mr Ponsford told officers an electrician had carried out work days before their initial investigation.

A vital white lead and junction box believed to be the cause of Tommy's electrical accident was "thrown out" before officers could examine it.

Defence solicitor Simon Readhead said the Ponsford's did not dispute the accident happened. He said the couple's defence was based on a legal argument relating to the investigation.

Magistrates ruled Samantha Liddington was bar manager at the time of the accident and found her guilty of failing to report the accident.

She was fined £200 and ordered to pay £300 costs.

Officers tell of pub's failings

District council officers told magistrates how repeated visits to the Bowerhill pub revealed a non-existent health and safety policy and substandard electrical equipment.

Principal environmental health officer David Bardwell said: "We are very disappointed that these serious charges have floundered because of a technicality, as this young boy was badly injured.

"It is vital that businesses have proper accident recording and reporting procedures, and the guilty verdict we did achieve with Samantha Liddington has highlighted the importance of this."