Landlord jailed after infants die in fire

 A landlord who failed to fit smoke alarms inside a rented house where two boys died in a fire has been jailed for a year following a landmark case.

Kamal Bains was told that the lack of smoke detectors at the home in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was a “significant cause” of the deaths of Logan Taylor, three, and two-year-old Jake Casey.

The youngsters died when an electrical fault in a TV caused a fire in their bedroom in February 2016. Their mother, Emma Taylor, was beaten back by heat as she tried to rescue them, Leeds Crown Court heard. Bains, 51, of Huddersfield, admitted a breach of health safety law.

West Yorkshire Police said the prosecution was the first to be brought since legislation was passed in October 2015 requiring private-sector landlords to have at least one smoke alarm installed on every storey of their properties. Sentencing him yesterday, Mr Justice Males said: “Your failure to fit smoke alarms was a significant cause of the children’s deaths.”