Riddle of fatal cooker blaze

Jul 11 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

MYSTERY surrounds the death of a Wirral man after he received almost 90% burns while cleaning a cooker at his mother’s house, an inquest heard.

Christopher Warrington, 30, is thought to have been using petrol to clean grease and dirt from cooker parts.

Firefighters called to the family home on Proctor Road, in Hoylake, in June, 2006, found scorch marks in the garden.

Mr Proctor, who was alone in the house at the time after his father, Peter, went to the shop, had managed to call the emergency services twice after becoming engulfed in flames.

The inquest was told that scorched areas in the garden could have been caused by him rolling on the ground to try to put out his burning clothes.

Paramedics arrived and found him slumped by the front door inside the house, and he was taken to Arrowe Park before being transferred to Whiston Hospital, where he died of his injuries two days later.

A pathologist’s report said Mr Warrington died of multiple organ failure as a result of extensive third degree burns to 87.5% of his body.

Fire station manager Jed Flowerday told the inquest at Wallasey Town Hall that a colleague had not been able to determine the cause of the fire.

The fire officer’s report said that, because the blaze occurred outside, most usual causes of a fire at a domestic house were ruled out.

He said on the patio where it is believed Christopher Warrington had been cleaning the cooker were found a Qualcast lawnmower with the fuel cap removed, an aerosol, cigarette lighter and “evidence of discarded smoker’s materials”.

He said a cigarette would not have ignited the petrol fumes, but that it was likely petrol had contaminated Mr Warrington’s clothes and the cause of them igniting was “most likely to be the cigarette lighter”.

Mr Johnson said there was no evidence that Mr Warrington had intentionally set himself alight, and, recording an open verdict, said: “We simply do not know what the chain of events were that led to Mr Warrington losing his life.”

liammurphy