THE people responsible for a catalogue of fire safety breaches that could have started a “cataclysmic” fire in the heart of York have received suspended prison sentences.

Immigration officers found illegal workers living above American Nails in Stonegate in March 2013 and December 2013, despite a fire authority prohibition notice forbidding people from sleeping there.

Sailesh Mehta, prosecuting, said for more than a year between April 4, 2012, and December 2013, owner Vi Long Nhan, 38, and manageress Thu Ho, 55, ignored official warnings from North Yorkshire fire officers as they failed to make the business safe by installing working fire alarms, fire equipment and fire doors and carrying out other fire safety work. Fire officers twice found highly flammable chemicals stored next to electrical supply units in the Stonegate property’s basement.

Judge Colin Burn warned York Crown Court: “If there had been a fire in the lower floors of the premises, it would have trapped anyone further up,” he said.

Of the acetone and other chemicals stored in the basement which can catch fire at room temperature, the judge said: “If there had been ignition of that vapour by a spark, the results would have been cataclysmic, not least because there are no fire spaces or gaps between these buildings (American Nails and its neighbours) and there would have been wholesale disaster in that particular street.”

Thu No, of Woodberry Grove, London, admitted two breaches of fire safety regulations and asked for a third to be taken into consideration. She was given a seven month prison sentence and ordered to pay £10,000 prosecution costs within three years.

Vi Long Nhan, of Loddiges Road, London, admitted three breaches of fire safety regulations and was given a six month prison sentence and ordered to pay £3,000 prosecution costs. Both prison sentences were suspended for two years.

Barristers for both gave no mitigation after the judge said he would suspend both sentences. The court heard work had belatedly been carried out to improve fire safety.

After the case, station manager David Watson, of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The conviction shows how seriously the fire authority and the courts view those who put the safety of others at risk in the event of a fire.”

He urged all businesses to work with firefighters to make their buildings safe.

Thames Valley Police and immigration officers raided American Nails on March 17, and arrested a 20-year-old man from Reading on suspicion of human trafficking before releasing him on bail.