A SECURITY company whose guard was poisoned to death while on a night shift in Gravesend, has been ordered to pay out nearly £56,000.

Aurthur Ebirim, 45, was working for Anchor Services (GB) Limited guarding the disused former Wimborne House nursing home in Taunton Vale, when he died after inhaling toxic carbon monoxide fumes from a petrol generator on the morning of October 28, 2011.

The machine had been left running with the door closed despite the fact such equipment should never be used in doors even when well ventilated.

A single handwritten note was laid on the generator telling users to keep a door in the building open to ventilate the space.

Mr Ebirim, a father-of-three from Peckham, was asked to guard the home alone because the usual night-time guard was unavailable.

His wife Anita raised the when her husband failed to contact her at the end of his shift.

The security guard of 11 years was found slumped in a chair after emergency services broke down a door to get to him.

At Dartford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday Anchor Services, currently in the hands of liquidators, was fined the maximum £20,000 for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and ordered to pay a further £35,656 in costs.

HSE inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said: "This was a tragic and completely avoidable death that has devastated Mr Ebirim’s wife, family and friends.

"The onus was on Anchor Services to keep Mr Ebirim safe but they failed to do so."

A jury at Gravesend Town Hall recorded a verdict of accidental death from carbon monoxide poisoning at an inquest in June.

Speaking at that hearing Anchor Services director Paul Daley said: "The company deeply regrets the death of Aurthur."