Former soldier, 37, killed in chip pan blaze
AN ex-soldier died in a fire at her home after a drinking session, an inquest heard.
The chip pan was left unattended on the hob and it turned the kitchen into an inferno and filled the house with thick black smoke.
Catherine Campbell, 37, had told her partner she was going out to get something to eat following a drinking session in Wigan town centre.
Partner Natalie Bamber had gone upstairs in the St James Grove, Poolstock, home to ‘have a sleep,’ and when she woke to the sound of ‘crackling’ with house filling with smoke, she assumed Catherine, a former Army soldier, was still out.
Natalie told the Bolton inquest: “We were supposed to be going out later to my dad’s and she told me she would walk to the shops while I went upstairs for a sleep.
“I thought she was nipping out to the shops to get food.”
As fire raged through the kitchen and house filled with thick black and grey smoke Natalie managed to escape, helped by a neighbour.
Natalie told neighbours and the first responding fire crew she did not think Catherine was inside on the afternoon of June 20,
It was only when a neighbour, who earlier saw the couple walking ‘in an intoxicated fashion’ back to their home, said he thought she might still be inside that a second crew went in to search.
She was found in a narrow gap between the sofa and flight of stairs in a foetal position, assistant coroner for Manchester West Catherine Cundy was told at the Bolton hearing.
Crews battled to save her but she was pronounced dead at Wigan Albert Edward Infirmary. She had suffered 60 per cent burns.
Ms Cundy accepted pathologist Dr Emil Salmo’s assessment that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning and that ‘acute alcohol intoxication’ had been a contributory factor.
Recording a conclusion that Catherine’s death was accidental, she said: “A significant fire developed in the kitchen of the property and took hold relatively quickly, assisted by the open-plan layout of the house.
“The source of the fire was a chip pan containing cooking oil. There is no evidence as to exactly where Catherine was when the fire started.
“I accept the evidence of the police that the actions of the fire service were appropriate.”