The former manager and leaseholder of a pub have been jailed for breaching a string of fire regulations.

Former manager of the Prince Of Wales in Finsbury Road, Wood Green, Samir Wassef, of West Drayton, and leaseholder Sami Farag, of Royal Oak, were each handed sentences of 24 weeks after pleading guilty to eight offences.

Haringey council alerted the London Fire Brigade to concerns that the building was being used to house multiple people and was not adhering to fire safety.

Following an inspection the brigade found ten violations including exposure to dangerous substances, inadequate fire detection and compromised escape routes.

Despite a number of warnings the two men failed to fix the problems.

Fire doors remained hooked open, door closers were not fitted and there was no fire door separating the kitchen and bar.

There was also no emergency plan or fire safety training for staff, fire risk assessment was provided but was found to be wholly inadequate.

For carrying out an inadequate fire risk assessment a third defendant Dean Venkatasamy received a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for one year, at the hearing on Friday.

London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner for fire safety Neil Orbell said: “This premises was a potential death trap and the fact that the judge sentenced both Mr Farag and Mr Wassef to six months in prison should serve as a stark warning to other landlords who choose to ignore their fire safety responsibilities.

“The court’s plainly take fire safety as seriously as we do and if we find landlords are putting their tenants lives at risk we won’t hesitate to prosecute.”