icWales - Sons that Dad ‘forgot’ in fire
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A FATHER-OF-TWO who had been drinking before a blaze tore through his flat “forgot” his young sons were asleep in a bedroom, an inquest was told yesterday.
After he had left his home to raise the alarm the lifeless bodies of Konnor Owen, three, and brother Kyal, four, were recovered by firefighters.
At an inquest into the tragedy yesterday their father Michael Thomas admitted he may have fallen asleep while a cigarette was still alight following a drinking session at the property with two friends. North West Wales coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones, recording a verdict of accidental death, said though it was not the job of an inquest to apportion blame it was “clear from the circumstances where the blame lay”.
The inquest heard how Mr Thomas and his friends had ordered a taxi to bring back 32 cans of beer to the flat before the deaths on September 2.
Mr Thomas told the inquest, in Llangefni, on Anglesey, he had no recollection of how much he had drunk before the fire. “I remember putting the children to bed [about 9pm], but after we started drinking I can’t remember what we did. I don’t know how much I had to drink.”
Mr Pritchard Jones asked, “Do you think it’s possible you could have fallen asleep with a cigarette remaining alight?”
“I could have done, yes,” Mr Thomas answered.
Forensic scientist Stephen Andrews said he believed a “smouldering cigarette being dropped” onto the sofa was the most likely cause of the flat fire at Llanfaethlu, on Anglesey.
He told the inquest the most likely scenario was that after his two friends had left Mr Thomas had woken to find the sofa on fire and had attempted to battle the flames with his T-shirt.
After leaving the flat he spoke to a taxi driver and two women who had parked near the property.
One of the women, Bethan Parry, told him to go and warn his landlord of the blaze.
The other woman, Rhian Richardson, later heard the two boys’ screams and mounted a failed rescue attempt with taxi driver Mark Barker.
Mrs Parry, Mrs Richardson and Mr Barker all told the inquest they believed Mr Thomas had forgotten about Konnor and Kyal.
It was only when Mr Thomas returned moments later and he was told of the boys’ presence in the flat that he realised his mistake, they said. The inquest heard he fought his way back up to the children’s bedroom, but the youngsters had left this room and headed for the lounge, probably in search of their father, where the fire was at its most intense.
Mr Andrews said had they remained in their room they probably would have survived long enough to be rescued by firefighters.
Mr Thomas smashed a window in the room to enable him to breathe before spending up to five minutes searching for the boys. After realising they were not in the room he leapt from a first floor window.
The fire investigation that followed the blaze recovered two smoke alarms from under the kitchen sink that were not being used when the blaze took hold. The flat also had two fire safety doors between the lounge and the boys’ bedroom, which the inquest heard may have been left open. One of the doors had a self-closing device that had never been fitted.
Mr Pritchard Jones said, if used properly, both the smoke alarms and the fire safety doors might have saved the boys’ lives.
Home office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers said the boys died as a result of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide poisoning – fumes created by the fire.
