Dad and 5 children perish in blaze at ‘danger farm’
A FATHER was killed alongside five of his 11 children in a farmhouse blaze which started amid a range of fire hazards, a coroner heard yesterday.
Retired builder David Cuthbertson, 68, died inside remote Poityn Farm with Just, 11, Reef, 10, Misty, nine, Patch, six, and Gypsy, four.
Three of Mr Cuthbertson’s other children, Leaf, 13, Blue, 12, and Farr, 11, survived and tried to raise the alarm.
Witnesses told the inquest the property “smelled of gas” and was wired up with miles of electrical cable strips fastened together into “daisy chains”.
They said the house was also littered with candles, cigarette lighters and petrol cans, and that Mr Cuthbertson had been letting off fireworks on the night of the tragedy – the day before Halloween.
Police have spent more than £560,000 investigating the fire which reached temperatures of more than 1,800F (1,000C).
But Richard Hancock, who led the investigation team, told Powys coroner Andrew Barkley they could not identify a single cause because the damage was so severe.
Mr Hancock of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue said: “We found cigarette lighters, candle holders, and quite a lot of electric wiring.
“Hundreds of metres of different cables with socket-extension blocks. They were being so-called daisy chained, which is not the best practice in the world.”
He told the inquest in Welshpool the extensions could overheat and ignite, adding: “Electricity does still remain a possible cause of ignition.”
One of Mr Cuthbertson’s other sons, Robin Terry, said the farmhouse in Llangammarch Wells, Powys, had “not been well looked after” before his father took it over.
“There were gas bottles used for the cooker kept outside the property,” he added. “The water boiler was kept on all the time because it was the main heating for the house.
“There had been a smell of gas at the property for about two months. Everyone could smell it. As far as I know, nothing was done about it. Dave did most of the electric work himself.” Mr Terry said Leaf believed the fire had been started by the property’s living room log fire.
Sima Khan, the children’s 44-yearold mother, told the hearing Mr Cuthbertson was a full-time carer for the youngsters, following his decision to retire.
“All the children were happy, bright and intelligent,” she added. The fire on October 30 last year meant the house had to be dismantled brick by brick as investigators tried to establish how it started.
Mr Barkley told how Leaf tried to save her siblings after discovering the fire because she went to bed later than the others.
“Leaf woke up to find her bedroom, above the lounge, was full of smoke,” he said. “She ran to the second floor and called out to her brothers who were sleeping there. She got outside. She could hear her father calling for the other children to get out.”
Mr Barkley recorded a narrative conclusion for the six deaths, saying each had died from inhalation of fumes from the fire but there was no clear evidence what started the blaze.