THE worker found responsible for starting the gas leak, Paul Rowe, today claimed he had been made a scapegoat by his former employers - and said Nipa's management had known that safety mechanisms were bypassed on a previous occasion.

The court was told that Mr Rowe had refused to admit responsibility for jamming a safety button with a metal bar on the night of the leak, although he admitted doing so on another occasion when machinery had been slow to operate.

Nigel Lawrence, prosecuting, said the bar had been found close to the safety button, which had been jammed.

He said it must have been jammed by Mr Rowe, because he had been in charge of that process on the night of the leak.

The court heard Mr Rowe had protested against his sacking at an industrial tribunal - but his dismissal was upheld.

Today Mr Rowe continued to claim he did not know what had happened on the night - even after the judge ruled he was responsible for starting the chain of events which led to the gas leak.

Mr Rowe, 36, had worked for Nipa for ten years, including seven years at the company's factory in South Wales.

He earned £21,000 a year as a process operator before he was sacked.

Mr Rowe, who sat in the public gallery at Burnley Crown Court on both days of the hearing, had hoped the case would unearth new evidence to help clear his name - but left dissatisfied. Mr Rowe, of Prestwich, Manchester, who is now a postman, said: "The company has made me a scapegoat.

"Their barrister called me a liar and an idiot, and all I could do was sit there in court and listen.

"I would have liked to have my say in court. I have never admitted using the metal bar that night. But the judge has made his mind up and now I don't know what I can do to repair my reputation."

But Recorder Arthur Noble, sentencing, said: "There can be no doubt that on this occasion the button was deliberately jammed by Mr Rowe - that is confirmed by the production manager and the supervisor.

"At the time, Mr Rowe was doing two jobs at once."

The court heard that senior production manager Philip Arnold knew the safety button had been overridden once before, but did not tell his superiors.

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