A BUSINESSMAN has been jailed for eight months over the death of a 16-year-old apprentice.

Manchester Crown Court heard on Tuesday how Cameron Minshull was dragged into a steel cutting lathe after his overalls became trapped on January 8 2013.

Mr Minshull — paid just £3 an hour under the government’s cheap labour apprenticeship scheme — worked at Huntley Mount Engineering in Bury, Greater Manchester.

The court heard that safety guards had been removed from machinery and apprentices were unsupervised and untrained.

Recruitment agency Lime People Training Solutions, which received £4,500 of taxpayers’ cash for getting him the job, was fined £75,000 for putting Mr Minshull into a dangerous work environment.

Company boss Zaffar Hussain, 59, was jailed for eight months and his supervisor son, Akbar, 35, was given a four-month suspended jail sentence and fined £3,000. The company was fined £150,000 for corporate manslaughter.

Families Against Corporate Killers spokeswoman Hilda Palmer, who supported Mr Minshull’s family, said that three days before the youngster’s death David Cameron had given a speech about health and safety becoming an “albatross around the neck of British businesses.”

She said: “The lie about the burden on business has been used to slash health and safety regulations, slash health and safety enforcement, so there’s no scrutiny of the agencies and organisations and employers taking on young people at work.”