A NIGHT porter who caused the fire that killed two men at the luxury Cameron House Hotel has been spared a prison sentence.
At Dumbarton Sheriff Court today, Sheriff William Gallacher ordered Christopher O'Malley to carry out a community-based punishment instead.
The 35-year-old, from Renton, was placed on a community payback order (CPO) as a direct alternative to a jail term.
He will be supervised by social workers for 18 months, and must carry out 300 hours of unpaid community work – the maximum allowed under the law – by January 2022.
Simon Midgley, 32, and Richard Dyson, 38, died from smoke inhalation and fire gases on the morning of December 18, 2017.
Last week the hotel pleaded guilty to a catalogue of safety failures in the nearly two years leading up to the fatal blaze.
Both O'Malley and Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Limited were sentenced on Friday.
The high-end destination had a written policy for landing helicopters but not for clearing ash from two open fireplaces.
Richard Dyson and Simon Midgley died in the blaze on December 18, 2017
And when their own external safety inspections and annual Scottish Fire and Rescue Service audits repeatedly told them not to keep newspapers and kindling next electrical mains installation, the hotel ignored all of it.
They had a turnover of more than £40million in the two years of their wanton safety breaches.
On the night of the fatal fire, they put the lives of 214 guests - including 25 children - at risk.
Yet staff failed to evacuate with the guest register, leaving firefighters unaware Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson were unaccounted for. They were only found unresponsive on either side of a fire escape stairwell door more than an hour after the fire service arrived.
Two days before the fire, night porter Christopher O’Malley was chastised with an unnamed colleague for emptying ash into a plastic bag.
The damage caused by the fire was so severe that it was months before investigators could get access (Photo - Crown Office
There was no written procedure and he was never trained in the proper way to dispose of ash. And on December 15, his unnamed supervisor offered no correct alternative.
So on December 17, O’Malley, of Renton, emptied the ash into a bag again and put it in a concierge cupboard next to kindling and newspapers. Hours later, Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson were dead.
READ MORE: Hotel owners admit safety breaches for blaze that killed two guests
O’Malley pleaded guilty in December to failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of persons affected by his actions or omissions, namely the guests of the hotel which led to the death of the two men.
Between January 14, 2016 and December 18, 2017, Cameron House failed to have a system in place for removal and disposal of ash and embers, to maintain and empty ash bins, and failed to keep cupboards containing potential ignition sources free of combustibles.
They also failed to take fire safety measures necessary to keep employees safe and to keep guests safe, and whereby their actions led to the fire where Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson died.
An aerial photograph showing the damage to the hotel (Photo - Crown Office)
It was months before investigations could even enter the main hotel building because of the damage. And it was nearly three years before any prosecutions made it to court.
Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Limited was taken to court as an entity, not its individual directors as listed on Companies House, Coley Brenan, Richard Weissman and Stephen Walker.
The hotel’s ultimate owners are in the Cayman Islands offshore tax haven.
Despite the first, other parts of the resort continued to operate. They had a turnover of £4.8m in 2018 and £4.7m in 2019, according to advocate depute Michael Meehan QC.
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