The crane grab that crushed a student to death was declared unsafe by a Government inspector, a court heard.

Simon Jones, 24, was killed when the jaws of the clamshell grab accidentally snapped shut around his head as he loaded bags of stone from a ship's hold at Shoreham Harbour.

Christine Berringer, a Health and Safety Executive inspector, yesterday told an Old Bailey jury the machinery on the crane was dangerous and breached regulations. She had made several visits to the site after the tragedy.

Following her inspections, Miss Berringer gave shipping firm Euromin a prohibition notice that banned the company from using the machinery.

Commenting on the set-up of the grab, Miss Berringer said: "I have never seen an operation like that. In my opinion, it would not have been a safe system of work in general."

Miss Berringer said the notice was imposed after she concluded the excavator posed "a risk of serious personal injury".

The equipment was unsuitable for the work for which it had been adapted, she said. During testing of the crane, she noted the controls for the clamshell grab were "extremely sensitive" and quiet.

Miss Berringer told the jury: "That sensitivity is for the benefit of the operator of the equipment to avoid any risk of strain and stress in the operation."

After the inspection, a legal notice was lodged with the company requiring a "proper programme of induction and training for all casuals".

The court heard Mr Jones, a Sussex University student, was on his first day as a casual worker for the shipping firm.

Miss Berringer said no staff at Euromin alerted her to the fact there was a stop valve on the side of the excavator. Photographs also revealed the sightline between the hold and crane was obscured by a conveyor belt system.

Euromin denies manslaughter and six charges under Health and Safety regulations. Its general manager, Richard Martell, of Jubilee House, Aldingbourne Drive, Crocker Hill, near Chichester, denies manslaughter.

It is thought the operator accidentally nudged the lever that shuts the claw.

The trial continues.