A former housing chief executive handed a £9m bill after accidentally sparking a forest fire will have to live with the “split-second” decision for the rest of his life.
Michael Hanks, 66, was hit with the fine and an 18-month jail sentence after a court in southern Spain ruled last week that he behaved recklessly when starting a small fire in 2005.
A source close to Hanks said: “It’s just a very dreadful very thing to happen to him. It’s one of those things you do in a split second and it’s a dreadful thing. It’s personally very dramatic for him I would imagine.”
The former head of Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association, who retired in 2008, was walking in Sierra Nevada National Park with his girlfriend when they got lost and started the blaze to attract the attention of rescuers.
Over 270 firefighters, 12 planes and 20 helicopters were required to control the blaze, which devastated almost 5000 acres of protected land.
Hanks played an important part in incorporating the Bengali and Vietnamese communities into the borough and worked tirelessly to have Bangla and Lien Viet registered as housing associations.
“He made a major contribution to housing in Islington and Hackney and assisted two black and ethnic minority housing associations to get registered to serve those specific communities,” said the source.
“He was a very strong supporter of vulnerable people and giving them voice in housing.”
(Photo: via Flickr – OpalMirror)
