THE company who owned the Blackpool Oasis Centre amusement arcade where an 11-year-old boy was found electrocuted last year has pleaded guilty to safety breaches.

Lee Scott-Harman, of Princes Court, Blackpool, was found dead behind a win-a-toy machine at the Oasis Centre arcade on the Golden Mile in July 1998.

And at Blackpool Magistrates Court on Monday, Joyland Amusement, who have since sold the arcade, admitted three charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

It admitted contravening the electricity at work regulations, failing to ensure a person's safety and breaching general duty to an employee.

The company will now appear for sentencing at Preston Crown Court at a later date.

The same three charges against the two directors of the Knutsford-based firm, Gerald Steinberg and Steven May, were withdrawn.

Prosecuting counsel John Barrett asked for the case to go to Crown Court as it involved a fatality.

He said: "The prosecution's case is that the defendant company and its employees were on notice that children were misbehaving and operating behind the machine where the accident happened.

"We say there is a history of health and safety indifference."

Defence counsel Stuart Denney asked for sentence to be passed by Blackpool Stipendiary Magistrate Jonathan Finestein who heard the case.

Mr Denney argued the powers of punishment available at Blackpool Magistrates Court were sufficient.

The Oasis Centre is now owned by Preston firm Crown Leisure. A spokesman for the company said: "When Crown Leisure took over the Oasis Centre on July 21, 1999, our health and safety standards were very high and we will continue to work at that level."

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