The court heard, since moving into the property in 2009, the Brown family had not been shown how to use the lift and no manual had ever been provided.

The lift’s emergency lowering system had never worked and a handle to allow the lift to be manually lowered had not been provided nor had a key switch which would allow the parents to restrict unsupervised use of the lift.

Between 2009 and 2013, the Brown family had reported numerous issues with the lift including buttons not working, overheating and the doors having to be forced when they did not open properly.

In 2011, an occupational therapist raised concerns that the lift could pose a risk to Jack’s safety.

On two occasions prior to 2013, Orona had made quotes for the lift’s replacement but these were not accepted by Synergy Housing.

Judge Stephen Climie said “misinformation” in Synergy’s records had led to the belief that there was no lift at the property which led to the “failure to have the lift inspected for a significant period of time”.

Dominic Kay, mitigating for Synergy Housing, said the company had never been notified that the Brown family did not know how to use the lift and the presence of the manual hand-winding wheel was not causative of the incident.

He added the lift had been removed from Synergy’s records by an “individual’s mistake”.

Mr Kay said Synergy was not a lift expert and relied on the specialist knowledge of companies like Orona. He said Synergy had not been informed by Orona that there was damage to the lift door.

James Ageros, mitigating for Orona said the company accepted the breach as the damaged door had not been reported to Synergy but prior to that inspection it had been told there was no lift at the property.

He added the mistake was an “isolated but serious event” but was not “indicative of a systemic failure”.

“Orona, as Synergy’s specialist advisor, on two occasions, did advise the lift be removed. When [Orona] gave advice, they did not take it,” Mr Ageros said.

Judge Climie said: “This was a piece of industrial machinery operating in a domestic setting in the presence of three children which should have resulted in the most careful safety measures.

“[The companies] were wholly responsible for her death.”

'We let the family down'

Aster Group Operations Director Michael Reece said after the case: "I fully accept that at the time of the accident in August 2015, we had not done everything we should have to make sure the lift was defect free and that this contributed to the accident which so tragically ended Alexys’ life. We therefore let the Brown family down and for that I am truly sorry.

"We exist to make a positive difference to the lives of our customers and the safety of our customers, colleagues and contractors remains our priority. In this case we did not meet the standards expected of us and we expect of ourselves, and that is a matter of profound regret.

"We have reviewed every aspect of our lift maintenance and contract management processes to reduce, as far as possible, the chances of an accident involving our lifts from ever happening again. "Safety is not something we will ever be complacent about and our focus will remain on continuing to improve and learn from every safety concern.

"We inspected all our through floor lifts across our portfolio immediately after the accident and all were found to be safe and in good working order. We remain in contact with our customers to reassure them of the actions we have taken and to remind them what to do if they have any concerns at all about their lift.

"Our thoughts and deepest sympathies remain with the Brown family at what must be an incredibly difficult time. We will of course continue to provide them with any support we can as their landlord."