English scrap metal recycler sentenced to 9 months in jail for wall collapse that killed 5

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — The British workplace safety agency says the owner and a manager of a scrap metal recycling plant have been sentenced to nine months in jail for safety lapses after a wall collapsed and killed five migrant workers. The owner of Hawkeswood Metal Recycling was sentenced and two of his companies fined 1.6 million pounds ($2 million) on Monday in Birmingham Crown Court for violating the Health and Safety at Work Act. The workers were killed instantly in July 2016 when the 50-ton wall toppled onto them at the start of their shift at the plant. They had to be identified by fingerprints. The defendants denied jeopardizing worker safety.