Anthony Coates, a company director from Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex, was prosecuted by West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service for significant breaches of fire safety regulations.

Coates was the director of two companies involved in the purchase and renovation of Columbia House in Romany Road, Worthing around 2022.

The former office building was being converted into a seven-storey high-rise block of flats.

Coates wrongly allowed the flats to be occupied before the escape routes, the corridor and stairs, were signed off as fire safety compliant.

At an earlier hearing, Coates pleaded guilty to five charges under the Fire Safety Order for the offences committed in 2022.

At Lewes Crown Court he was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and 150 hours of unpaid community work, and fined £1,000.

The court heard that a Fire Safety Inspecting Officer who was working on the building regulation consultation for this premises noticed lots of vehicles in the residents’ car park when passing by.

Upon investigation it became apparent that residents had wrongly been allowed to move into the properties.

This negligence endangered approximately 30 residents, and the breaches undermined the building’s fire safety strategy.

Area Manager Dave Bray, Head of Fire Safety for West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, said: “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this case and believe it serves as a strong reminder to all those responsible for the design, construction, occupation and management of premises in West Sussex, to which the Fire Safety Order applies, that the duties placed upon them by the Fire Safety Order are taken seriously.

“Duty holders are reminded that the Fire Safety Order is in place to protect life in the event of a fire. As such, the highest sanctions possible will be sought where these failings endanger the lives of residents and visitors to West Sussex.”