A FIREWOOD supply firm has admitted causing the death of a young father who fell off a roof at work.

The company’s owners also now face jail for a separate charge of failing to ensure the safety of Benjamin Edge, who was killed in the horror fall at a Ramsbottom site.

And the bosses and another employee who were there at the time of the incident also tried to cover up their mistakes, perverting the course of justice, a court heard.

At Manchester Crown Court, SR and RJ Brown Limited pleaded guilty to corporate manslaughter in relation to the death of Mr Edge, a 25-year-old with a three year-old daughter.

Mr Edge, from Greenmount, was working at Fletcher Bank Quarry in Shuttleworth at 10.10am on December 10, 2014, when the incident took place.

He was taken to Salford Royal hospital with severe head injuries, but doctors were unable to save him.

Directors of SR and RJ Brown, Christopher and Robert Brown, also admitted to failing to ensure the safety of Peter Heap, who was not employed by the company but was working on the site.

Heap himself admitted to perverting the course of justice by leaving the site after the incident to fetch harnesses and lanyards to make it look as though Mr Edge had been provided with the right equipment.

Christopher and Robert Brown also admitted perverting the course of justice by asking Heap to do this.

Mark Aspin, director of MA Excavations Limited – the contractor in charge of dismantling the part of the site from which Mr Edge fell – admitted failing to ensure work at the site was managed and planned safely.

His company also admitted corporate responsibility for exposing workers to risk.

Christopher Brown, aged 25, Robert Brown, 31, Aspin, 36, and Heap, 33, will be sentenced on March 15 and 16.

They have been released on unconditional bail, but Honorary Recorder of Manchester Judge Stockdale QC warned them this did not necessarily mean they will avoid jail next month.

Judge Stockdale said: “You have now pleaded guilty and I am adjourning until March 15.

“You will have unconditional bail, as before, until that date.

“The fact that I have given you bail today does not affect the severity of the sentence, and it does not mean you will not receive a custodial sentence on March 15.”