Two companies have pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches after two men were found frozen to death in a refrigerator at a poultry factory more than seven years ago, The Mirror reported.

Police were called to the site at about 1am, on October 4, 2018. They found the two men dead at the Attleborough-based poultry factory in Norfolk. Jonathan Collins, 34, and Neil Moon, 49, had visited the Banham Poultry Ltd factory as subcontractors from a pest control company.

Two companies, Banham Poultry Ltd and Air Products PLC, have pleaded guilty to health and safety offences after they were charged following the subcontractors’ deaths.

Ensure our latest news headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

A coroner’s court review in 2024 heard the pair were found with “frozen hands and faces” and there was “evidence of frost on the floor”. A full inquest is yet to be held.

The two companies were set for trial at Norwich Crown Court on Wednesday, February 25. Each company was charged with two counts of corporate manslaughter.

Banham Poultry Limited was also to stand trial for two counts of failing to discharge duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 while Air Products PLC was faced with one count of the same charge.

Guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Banham Poultry in respect of two Health and Safety at Work offences and by Air Products PLC in relation to one breach.

The offences related to failing to ensure so far as reasonably practicable a duty of care to workers.

But both companies denied the two counts of corporate manslaughter.

Craig Hassall KC, prosecuting, said the pleas were acceptable to the crown and offered no evidence in respect of the manslaughter charges, stating not guilty verdicts should be entered.

The court heard both companies entered guilty pleas to the health and safety offences on the basis of “significant cause of actual harm”.

Sentencing is set for a two-day hearing before the crown court on March 31 and April 1.

The family of Mr Collins said in an earlier tribute that he was a “devoted family man who will continue to be loved and missed by all those who knew him”.

Mr Moon’s widow, who did not give her name, said: “Life will never be the same again. Tonight there will be a brighter star in the sky.”

The ownership of Banham Poultry has changed twice since the tragedy. The day after the deaths, Banham Poultry Limited said the factory had been bought by Chesterfield Poultry after the former went into administration.

In October 2021, the business was sold to the current owners Boparan Private Office (BPO). The current management and owners of Banham Poultry are not connected to the incident nor involved in the legal proceedings.