Magistrates have issued a warrant for the arrest of a former Westbury-on-Severn businessman who failed to pay £20,000 in fines and costs following a serious injury to a child at his premises.

Bob Osborne's two-year-old niece Eloise was badly hurt in an accident at his Select Feeds and Seeds business, in Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, in February 2004.

She suffered life threatening head injuries which have left her with problems.

After the accident, Mr Osborne, 63, of The Chase, Woolaston, Forest of Dean, sold the business because his heart had gone out of it.

Cheltenham magistrates were told today (Monday) that in 2006 he appeared before Gloucester Crown Court and admitted failing to prevent non-employees, particularly his niece, being exposed to risk.

The girl was discovered with multiple skull fractures at Osborne's warehouse by her mother Corrina.

The girl, now six, later showed a significant delay in understanding and speech, the crown court heard.

Osborne was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 prosecution costs. He was told the money must be paid in 12 months, with six months' jail in default of the fine.

But yesterday the magistrates were told that he had paid only £1,200 so far.

Clerk to the Justices David Whitaker said Osborne had been told he must be at the court at 10am but had failed to appear. Magistrates issued a warrant for him to be arrested and brought before them.

At the earlier court hearing, Ian Dixey, prosecuting, said the girl's four-year-old brother had alerted his mother.

"Her injuries were so severe that initially it was feared she would not survive," he said.

"It is not known how the injuries were caused but the most likely scenario is that they could have been caused by a fall of between six and eight feet head first onto the ground."

Mr Dixey told the court the girl's mother had been at the site to buy goods potatoes and dog food and had lent Osborne a hand before she was alerted to the tragedy.

"Police and local authorities were alerted and an investigation was started," Mr Dixey said.

"There were a number of unsatisfactory elements to the investigation of the premises.

"It was plain a risk assessment had not been carried out. If it had been it would have been realised that it was wholly unsuitable for children to be allowed onto the premises.

"The defendant accepts that it had not occurred to him that the children were at risk and that he should have carried out a risk assessment on the premises. In failing to do so he was careless."

Michael Fitton, defending, said Mr Osborne had sold the business in part because his heart went out of it following the accident.

He had been on the same premises for 18 years and there had been no accidents in all that time he said.

Mr Osborne was very highly spoken of he said, and in due course he hoped to be employed again.

It had been a dreadful lesson for him and for all those involved.

When passing sentence, Judge Jamie Tabor QC said: "Retailers and wholesalers such as yourself have responsibilities.

"Whether you are a retailer in a high street in London or whether in the countryside working from a barn those responsibilities are broadly the same.

"The principle responsibility is to ensure the safety of those who visit your premises, especially your customers.

"The fact is that your premises were not suitable for young customers in particular and your warehouse, with a forklift truck going in and out, should not have been somewhere where children had access."