A COMPANY director has pleaded not guilty over the deaths of four employees killed in a mill explosion.

George Boden, 64, director of Wood Treatment Ltd which ran Bosley Mill in Cheshire, stood in the dock at Chester Crown Court on Friday, July 24 to enter not guilty pleas to four counts of gross negligence manslaughter, following the explosion and devastating fire at the mill in July 2015.

Mill workers Dorothy Bailey, 62, Derek Barks (known as William), 51, Derek Moore, 62, and Jason Shingler, 38, were all killed in the disaster at the mill, which made wood chip products.

Two mill managers, Philip Smith, 58, and Peter Shingler, 56, were also in the dock for the hearing.

They both entered not guilty pleas to a health and safety offence, along with Boden, who pleaded not guilty to the same offence.

The firm has also been charged with corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences, to which not guilty pleas were entered.

The explosion, at about 9.10am on Friday, July 17, 2015, resulted in the four-storey mill being reduced to rubble and a 1,000C inferno raging for days afterwards.

All three defendants were given unconditional bail by Judge Steven Everett, until a further three-day hearing starting on December 9.

The trial date has been set for January 11, next year.