Trial told of ‘fresh start’

issues with the house but hadn’t done so.

He said he had raised the issue of smoke alarms with Bains “numerous times”.

Mr Casey said: “He said he would sort it. I used to get angry with him; I would swear. He told me ‘don’t threaten me - you don’t know who I am.”

Prosecutor Allan Compton told the jury at the opening of the case that Bains was the “heart and soul” of the now defunct property management company Prime Property Estates (Yorkshire).

Mr Compton said: “He was responsible for an inexcusable failure to ensure that 256 Alder Street was equipped with working smoke alarms.

“It was a tragedy, we say, that was eminently avoidable.”

Mr Compton told the jury previous tenants at the property had also complained about a lack of alarms and one was told she needed to fit one herself.

He said Bains told police there were smoke alarms installed when the family moved in but fire investigators found no trace of any alarms.

The prosecutor said Bains would have been “fully aware” that new laws came into force in October 2015 which meant it was mandatory for smoke alarms to be fitted on all floors of rented properties.

Bains, of Stableford Gardens, Birkby, denies two counts of manslaughter and one offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

(Proceeding)