THE unknown "cowboy builders" who originally put up a wall which later fell and killed a father should be ashamed of themselves, a prosecutor told a court.

His comment came at the sentencing of a contractor, Patrick Walsh, who pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations in relation to the death.

But Judge Jeremy Lea told Walsh that he was not solely responsible for the "tragic accident", which killed his close friend Adrian O'Dowd.

"The seeds of the accident had been sown quite a long time ago by those who put up the wall, which was grossly inadequate in design and construction," he said.

Walsh, 41, of Highcliffe Road, Sneinton, had been employed to remove and rebuild the cracked seven-foot retaining wall and a patio, in the back garden of a house in Mays Avenue, Carlton.

Mr O'Dowd, 43, of Greenwood Avenue, Bakersfield, was unemployed at the time, so Walsh took him on as a general labourer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Mr O'Dowd was working on the wall when it collapsed on January 24, 2007, crushing him. Firefighters and ambulance crews fought to free him for four hours, but he died from multiple injuries.

An investigation showed the original wall was dangerous and would have eventually fallen down on its own.

The garden was split into levels, and the wall supported one of these levels, with a patio built above. Waste including brick bags, pipes and even old mattresses were found buried underneath the patio, and none had been compressed.

"What lay beneath the patio slabs was the latent danger," said Stuart Rafferty, prosecuting.

The court heard a builder with more experience than Walsh would have realised the potential danger when work started on breaking up the patio the day before the accident.

He was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £7,500 in compensation to Mr O'Dowd's family.

An earlier charge of manslaughter by gross negligence will lie on file.

caroline.lowbridge@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk