A Margate company boss has been given a suspended jail sentence after a teenager died in a blaze at work.

Tragic Jarrad Swan, 18, was killed when oxygen gas cylinders he was filling exploded in a container in Bath Road.

A judge has heard how a colleague fought a desperate battle as the flames spread – fuelled by the oxygen, exploding canisters and cardboard.

Jarrad, who was an apprentice, was trapped by the fierce heat but might have been able to escape through a second exit - if it wasn't padlocked shut.

Courageous worker Philip Wood, who had used a fire extinguisher on the flames, then pleaded for a key for the lock - but it snapped.

It took three fire crews – some who heard banging from within the container – to find the teenager but he had died from burns and smoke inhalation.

Judge Adele Williams told Steve Adams, boss of Adams Home Centre, that it should have been “common sense” that the containers – which had been bolted together in an L shape - should have had another means of escape.

She gave Adams, 43, of Fitzmary Avenue, Margate, an eight month jail sentence suspended for two years and fined his company £150,000 with £42,790 costs after guilty pleas were entered on four charges under the Health And Safety Act.

Richard Matthews QC, prosecuting, told how the teenager was operating equipment using a Maximator compressor filling nine-litre oxygen cylinders from larger tanks.

He said: "The freight container in which Jarrad was working was also used for the storage of cardboard, Christmas decorations and a number of paint spray canisters."

"Mr Swan's family describe a loving, and much loved, decent hard-working young man, who had only weeks before moving into his first home with his partner" - Judge Adele Williams

He said at 3.30 pm on June 24 2014 there was an initial explosion within the Maximator which released a jet of high-pressure oxygen.

Mr Matthews added: “The fire quickly spread to materials on shelves opposite, in particular paint spray containers and at least 22 exploded and burnt.”

He said that as fire crews arrived, Jarrad was trapped in a small area unable to get out and by the time crews found him, he was dead.

“The subsequent investigation by police and the Health and Safety Executive revealed a catalogue of failings by the company and Adams, some of which directly contributed towards the teenager’s death,” Mr Matthews said.

The prosecutor added that the company – which has a £2m a year turnover – had failed to ensure the teenager’s safety when he was filling gas containers.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that CCTV captured the teenager doing his work when “a very bright explosion” occurred as he bent down.

It is believed the initial fire was probably caused by spilt oil, the judge was told.

Mr Wood – who was working nearby – saw a “vivid bright orange ball of flame” three feet off the ground.

“He ran outside and immediately turned off the oxygen supply and then grabbed a fire extinguisher from the office building before running straight back to fight the fire.

“He used the extinguisher, initially he thought successfully, to douse the fire. However, it flared back up in a jet of flame and after between 20 to 30 seconds the extinguisher was empty.”

Mr Matthew said Mr Wood was then forced back by another explosion and remembered the padlocked doors at the other end of the building.

“So he began clearing pallets away from the outside of the doors and shouting for someone to get him the key.

“Tragically as he attempted to open the padlock the key broke off in the lock. Given where Jarrad was subsequently found, if those doors had been unlocked and in use it is highly likely he would have escaped the fire," he added.

Judge Williams said there had been a “catalogue of systematic failures” which had resulted in the teenager’s death.

She said: “It is a tragedy that Jarrad should have lost his life. He was only 18. I have read victim personal statements from his partner, sister , mother and father. They make very moving reading indeed.

“They express their great loss, grief, anguish and despair. They describe a loving, and much loved, decent hard-working young man, who had only weeks before moving into his first home with his partner.

“Nothing I can say and any sentence I pass can in anyway diminish their loss and grief. It could not possibly do so. Nor is it in any way designed to put a value on Jarrad’s life.”

Earlier Prashad Popat QC, for Adams and his company, said the youngster’s death would “haunt” the defendant and those working for the firm.

“He knows that had things been done differently, Jarrad’s death might have been avoided and he wishes to express his deepest regret and remorse for the failures which led to this tragic death," he said.