A Skipton construction company has been fined more than £100,000 for causing the death of a 23-year-old employee.

Steven Allen died when a grab machine closed on his head while working for JN Bentley Ltd at a site in Midland Road, Bradford, on March 9, 2007.

Since then, his family have been fighting for company bosses to admit guilt for causing Mr Allen’s death. They received justice on Friday when a judge at Bradford Crown Court fined JN Bentley £106,250 for its “significant” health and safety failings.

The company was also ordered to pay £90,000 prosecution costs following a three-day trial of issue after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety law but refusing to acknowledge that its failings led to Mr Allen’s death.

His mother, Judith, 46, said: “I am pleased with the outcome but it is sad it took so long. Whatever fines are imposed does not alter the fact I have had my son taken from me, before he had chance to grow into the fine young man I know he would have become. This may be the end as far as prosecutions go, but our lives are blighted forever.”

Mr Allen, formerly of Highfield Road, Keighley, was working on the construction of a Bradford Council recycling centre on the day he died.

The site manager had ordered a scissor grab from plant hire company Marwood Group Limited and Mr Allen was among a group of workers attempting to lift a palette containing bags of cement.

Some of the bags fell off and the palette remained trapped. Mr Allen freed the pallet but the jaws of the grab closed on his head, causing horrific injuries. He was taken to hospital but his life support machine was turned off the next day.

During the trial of issue, Tim Horlock QC, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said the grab was “unsuitable” for moving the load of cement bags on a palette, a fact JN Bentley ought to have known.

JN Bentley admitted failing to ensure the health and safety of their employee, but Mark Turner, QC, mitigating for the company, said last year there were no reportable accidents at its sites in over 2,000 working hours.

Sentencing JN Bentley, Recorder Julian Smith said Mr Allen’s death had not been caused by “systemic problems” but had been a “complete aberration”.