A company director appeared in court today charged with gross negligence after one of his employees was buried under tonnes of soil when a trench collapsed.

Peter Eaton and his company, Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd., are being jointly charged in the UK's first  prosecution under the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act.

Tragic Alexander Wright, a 27-year-old junior geologist, was crushed to death in September 2008 when a pit collapsed as he was taking soil samples for the firm.

Eaton, 60, could be jailed for life if convicted of gross negligence and manslaughter, while his firm could be subject to an unlimited fine.

Both Mr Eaton, of Brimpsfield, Stroud, and his company also face health and safety charges.

Dressed in a blue suit and striped tie, Mr Eaton spoke only to confirm his name at the hearing at Bristol Crown Court this morning.

Judge Thomas Crowther QC granted Eaton unconditional bail until the next hearing before Bristol Crown Court on 19 August, when a plea will be entered.

The 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act was brought in to make it easier to bring companies to justice over the death of employees.

Kate Leonard, of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: "Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 an organisation is guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the person who died.

"A substantial part of the breach must have been in the way activities were organised by senior management.

"I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction for this offence."

Alexander Wright's parents, speaking shortly after his death, said: "We are absolutely devastated. He was the ideal son you could have asked for."