DOCTORING an air safety test and putting people at risk of being exposed to asbestos fibres has landed a company director with a suspended jail sentence.

Peter Horrey, of Jackson Road, Bromley, had been hired to take out all the asbestos insulation from the boiler room of a property but failed to effectively clean and decontaminate the room.

As well as being unlicensed to remove asbestos, he left visible fibres that were a danger to the householders and the plumbers, who were due to start work on the boiler.

After he was finished, an analyst who went to take an air test provided him with a certificate clearly showing the site had failed.

But Horrey provided a doctored report to the owners saying it had passed the test and was safe for them to re-enter, which they did.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Horrey, who did the work under his company name of Absolute Asbestos, under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.

Horrey pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to three breaches of the asbestos regulations between July 18 and 29 last year at a property in Greencroft Gardens, South Hampstead.

He was given six months imprisonment for each of the three breaches, to run concurrently, which is suspended for two years.

As well as the suspended sentence he has been electronically tagged for three months and must complete 300 hours unpaid community service.

And he has been ordered to pay £10,160 costs and pay £11,340 compensation to the Greencroft Gardens residents association.

After sentencing HSE inspector Dominic Elliss, who investigated the incident, said he was appalled by Horrey’s reckless disregard for safety in the full knowledge of the dangers caused by exposure to asbestos.

“He clearly set out to deceive these householders but, worse than that, he was apparently content to put them and the plumbers who had been booked shortly afterwards at risk.”