He was helping to tear down a building without any safety training when a fall from 25ft changed Alan Hind's life and features forever.

Left with half a head and brain damage, the 28-year-old labourer today welcomed the conviction of of his boss who was found to have breached safety laws at the work site.

Mr Hind suffered massive head injuries, including extensive skull fractures, a badly broken jaw, a severed optic nerve that left him blind in one eye and irreparable brain damage.

He also suffered kidney damage and was left deaf in one ear following the February 2008 accident.

Surgeons carried out three complex operations and six months after his fall used a titanium plate to replace a large section of shattered skull.

Parts of his brain were so damaged they had to be removed.

At Carlisle Crown Court, a jury convicted Mr Hind's supervisor Eric Murray, 63, who allowed him to work on the roof of a building at Watt's Yard, off London Road, Carlisle, without safety equipment or training.

Murray's older brother Robert, 65, admitted two health and safety breaches at an earlier court hearing.

Following the trial, Mr Hind, recalled waiting for the plate to be inserted in his skull saying: 'That was a frightening time.

'There was nothing to protect my brain - just skin. I was worried to go out.

'I didn't like to be around lots of people in case I bumped my head.'

Mr Hind, of Lockerbie, Scotland, has been unable to work since his accident. He welcomed the guilty verdict but warned other young workers: 'If it's not safe, it's not worth it.'

His solicitor, Nick Gutteridge, said: 'We are pleased to see the Murrays held to account but the tragedy is that this accident could have been avoided.

'Alan has been permanently disabled by his head injury: as well as the physical damage to his hearing and sight, he also suffers pain, flashbacks, memory loss and some personality changes.

Eric Murray, from Dalton, near Lockerbie, Scotland, denied being in charge of dismantling the building at Watt's Yard on the day of Alan Hind's accident.

But after a four-day trial the jury convicted him, accepting the prosecution argument that he was supervising the workmen and could have prevented the accident.

Brother Robert, from Annan, who had bought the building being dismantled, had earlier admitted two health and safety breaches linked to the accident.

The trial heard evidence of how Eric Murray - who has years of experience in erecting and dismantling buildings - allowed workers onto the roof of the building without any proper safety equipment or without adequate training for safe working at height.

Mr Hind, whose usual job was as a slaughterman, had no previous experience of working in the construction industry.

Murray said erecting scaffolding would have been too expensive and repeatedly claimed that he had simply been just one of the dismantling team, working under the direction of his brother.

The brothers will both be sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court on July 19.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0ry6Ww3J5

Wow...

The fact that he can live like this is amazing.

But, if I were him, I would've preferred to die. This is not what you call living.

I wonder how this affected his intellect.

Living without 100% brains..
Well, not that many humans uses that anyway!
Still, poorly living with a pernament damage, no good.

His family must be absolutely devastated

tbh... he was a bit stupid to volunteer to do it in the first place, still bloody hurrendous though. his life will never be the same.

Maybe he wont even realise how its different though as he may lack the capacity, who knows...

I do think that it could have been his fault. As construction workers often ignore the safety measures because they get in the way.
I've seen ppl like that on discovery, they work on tops of skyscrapers and wear a body harness that would hold them up if they would fall. THe only problem is that they don't attach a rope to it....
They said something like: We must wear the harness, but there is no rule about the rope.
I've also seen construction workers without helmets, glasses or earplugs while they should have been wearing them.

Not saying that this guys did that but just pointing out that it happens.

Uh how does a harnas protect you from a freefall of 25ft? That's just retarded to not use a rope with it

Thats the point. They believe in themselves and chose not to connect a rope to it.

I wonder how he could have lived after that

oooh that looks bad

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