Two men have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges following the death of a Welsh businessman at a Newquay hotel.

Philip Hodge, 47, from Cormorant Drive, St Austell and Jonathan Mingo, 35, of Polmear Road, St Austell, both denied manslaughter as well as Health and Safety Executive offences at Truro Crown Court today.

Mingo and Hodge denied they unlawfully killed Llanelli businessman Fred Jackson - a guest at the Great Western Hotel, on Cliff Road - by gross negligence

Both were remanded on bail at the court to await trial, provisionally booked for March next year and which could run for up to eight weeks.

Mr Jackson was found dead in his room in April last year. A post mortem examination revealed the father-of-two died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The deadly gas was first suspected of causing Mr Jackson’s death when a paramedic raised the alarm, after she began to suffer from side effects shortly after attending the hotel to inspect the body.

Hodge and Mingo are alleged to have breached their duty of care by: Designing, installing and commissioning a gas fired boiler and flue assembly which could not run efficiently; By failing to monitor adequately, or at all, the creation of carbon monoxide in and around the boiler and flue assembly, and by failing to ensure adequately, or at all, that the carbon monoxide created by the boiler's combustion did not enter the hotel.

Both also pleaded not guilty to a charge alleging that between December 1, 2005 and December 25, 2005, they failed to discharge their duty under the Gas Safety Regulations to install the boiler in such a way that it could not be used without constituting a danger to any person.

Hodge denied that between December 20, 2005 and April 21, 2008, having worked on the boiler, he failed to immediately examine the effectiveness of the flue.

Mingo denied that between December 1 and 25, 2005, being an employee, he failed to take reasonable care for the safety of other persons who might be affected by his acts or omissions at work by failing to ensure the boiler could not be used without constituting a danger to any person.

The defendants were not employees of the Great Western Hotel.