Couple killed by toxic fumes from boyfriend’s souped-up Ford Fiesta
A CAR fanatic souped up his Ford Fiesta – and unwittingly turned it into a death trap.
As a result of Tom Putt’s handiwork, exhaust fumes seeped inside the vehicle, killing him and his girlfriend.
Mr Putt, 20, who worked for Ford as an engineering apprentice, carried out modifications to the hatchback in a bid to improve its performance.
They included removing the catalytic converter, which helps reduce toxic emissions, and cutting vents into the bonnet. But a gap was left between the exhaust and the engine, with the result that lethal levels of carbon monoxide built up inside the car, an inquest heard yesterday.
Mr Putt and Miss Willis, 23, died as they sat chatting in the vehicle outside her home one evening last December. Their bodies were not discovered until the following morning.
Tests showed they had been poisoned by carbon monoxide sucked into the £18,000 Ford Fiesta ST via its fresh air intakes. The couple would have been unaware they were slowly being poisoned as the gas is colourless and odourless. Detective Inspector Robert Kirby told the inquest that ‘a unique set of events came together to allow this tragic incident to happen’.
Mr Putt had picked up Miss Willis from the shop where she worked on the afternoon of December 4. They went to get some food and drove around before parking outside the £375,000 semidetached house in Chelmsford, Essex, where she lived with her parents. Passersby said they saw Mr Putt, of LeighonSea, and his girlfriend, who he had been dating for around six months, talking inside the car with the engine running.
The alarm was raised at 10.30am the next day, when their bodies were spotted slumped inside the car.
Friends later paid tribute on social media. Mr Putt was described as a generous person who often helped fix friends’ cars. One wrote: ‘ He has done so much for other people.’ Miss Willis was described as a ‘ kind, caring and loving girl’.
Essex coroner Caroline BeasleyMurray recorded ver dicts of accidental death on Mr Putt and Miss Willis. The couple’s families declined to comment after the hearing in Chelmsford.
Detective Inspector Kirby said: ‘We would like to encourage people to please consider if modifications [to cars] are worth the potential consequences.’
Around 200 people are treated in hospital for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in England and Wales each year. About 50 of these die.
Symptoms include a feeling of intoxication, breathlessness and chest pain, followed by seizures and loss of consciousness.
Tragic set of circumstances’