Firm admits safety failures after workers killed by falling wall

The men were working at Myrehead Farm, between Linlithgow and Falkirk, to prepare the site for a housing development.

A 200-year-old milking byre had been taken down, but one wall remained and was to be underpinned to make it safe.

Mr Walker, from Blackburn, and Mr Henderson, from Grangemouth, were using picks and shovels to dig a trench, into which steel cages filled with stones were to be installed.

As they were digging, the 9ft (2.74m) wall “suddenly split in the middle horizontally”, causing sandstone blocks, rubble and lime mortar to fall on top of them.

The court heard that a heat detection device was used to locate Mr Walker, but he had suffered a catastrophic brain injury which was said to be “incompatible with life”.

Mr Henderson was declared dead at the scene, from crush injuries, despite the efforts of paramedics.

Another man, David McNeil, then 36, was also injured, spending 10 days in hospital with a fractured spine. He now has mobility issues and has not worked since.

Charles Johnstone, a 21-year-old student who was working in the holidays, took 14 months to recover from injuries including a broken leg, facial scarring and several fractured ribs.