Nigel Hampton QC, the lawyer representing some of the Pike River families believes it’s likely Friday’s re-entry into the drift could uncover evidence to support criminal charges.

“If you can prove a linkage between the methane and the explosion and those failures of duties and the explosion causing the death of the 29 men then I believe you would have a case of being able to show causation of the deaths and sufficient to link it to manslaughter charge or charges.”

Nigel Hampton told Q+A that former Pike River Mine CEO Peter Whittall would not be the only person who could face charges.

Nigel Hampton will meet with Police in Wellington on Wednesday to discuss the protocols and procedures that will be used on Friday’s re-entry to the drift. They will look at the training that has been given to the miners going in and what happens if they find evidence.

“I don’t think there is too much room for the view that things will go wrong in the evidence gathering. It can be filmed, it can be recorded, it can be photographed, it can be videoed, the whole thing I think is achievable.“

Please find the full interview here.

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