Inquest finds death of man in his own van was accidental

Family gives evidence as Coroner rules on death of Kieran Curley who died tragically in August of last year

THE death of a Boho man in a fire that consumed his van was accidental a coroner has found.

Kieran Curley (61), died on August 17, 2021 and his body was discovered in the burnt out vehicle on the Samsonagh Road, Boho early that morning by a farmer going to check on his cattle.

The inquest, in Belfast last Friday, heard evidence from Mr. Curley’s wife, Geraldine and daughter Ciara as well as Gerald Burns, the last person to see him alive and a police officer tasked to the scene.

Statements from his son Gary, other officers involved in the investigation, forensics and the post mortem were also read into evidence.

The coroner, Anne-louise Toal told the family who were present the reason for the inquest was to determine whether Mr. Curley’s death was accidental or a suicide.

Mrs. Curley told the inquest her husband and his brother had endured a trauma during childhood which greatly affect them and Mr. Curley’s brother had died by suicide.

She said he was traumatised by the week his brother survived in hospital and said to her at the time he would never put his family through that.

His brother’s death had a profound impact on him and resulted in an attempted suicide shortly after and multiple admissions to hospital for depression. He also began drinking heavily.

Health issues

She described how he had a number of other serious health issues which resulted in him taking a lot of medication and she worried about the effects of mixing his multiple medications with a heavy alcohol intake.

The inquest heard Mr. Curley had got up for a job on August 16 and was seen later that day by his son Gary coming out of an off-licence in Belcoo. He also spoke to his daughter about 5.30pm and said he was heading home shortly but did not do so.

This was not unusual according to Mrs. Curley but when he had not come home by 11pm they went looking for him.

On August 17 she got a call from her brother about an incident on the Samsonagh Road to which they went and advised police Mr. Curley was missing.

When she found out there was a body in the van she knew it was her husband as he had never been away all night.

Mrs. Curley told the inquest she did not believe his death to be suicide but rather a tragic accident as nothing had changed in the weeks before his death giving her any cause to believe it was anything other than an accident and he had been making plans for the future and had said about doing work around the house that evening.

While he would often get depressed she said at that time he didn’t appear to her to be depressed and had been in good form. She described how her husband had a number of medical issues including early Parkinsons which meant he would often have difficulties holding on to his cigarette which could drop out of his hand when he tried to smoke and that this had happened before.

Although she agreed his van was pulled in well off the road, she said he would have pulled in anywhere to drink or smoke and that this farm was known to him.

The deceased’s daughter gave evidence to the inquest.

She was adamant that she did not believe his death to be the result of suicide but rather that he had fallen asleep at the wheel after having consumed alcohol and lighting a cigarette.

She described how drinking would not make him depressed but rather he would just drink to the point of unconsciousness.

She too had not seen any signs of deterioration in his mental health and had been in good form playing with his granddaughter.

In good form

Mr. Burns, a neighbour and the last person to see the deceased at around 11pm on August 16 said he appeared in good form and did not appear down or upset.

Forensic analysis confirmed that the deceased was likely under the influence of alcohol at the time of his death and the injuries seen were consistent with heat induced fracturing.

A post mortem concluded that all the damage to the remains could be accounted for by burning of the body.

Internally there was possible soot staining of the windpipe and microscopic analysis confirmed soot within the small airways of the lungs which indicated he was alive when the fire had started. This was confirmed by the presence of carbon monoxide in the blood samples taken.

‘Accidental’

Ruling the cause of death as smoke inhalation, Mrs. Toal said: “I find, on the balance of probabilities, that the fire that consumed his car and resulted in his death was accidental and was not intended by the deceased to take his own life.

“I find that whilst the deceased was in the parked van and heavily intoxicated he attempted to light a cigarette as would be his custom when drinking in his van.

“I find that whilst severely intoxicated he has lost consciousness and his lit cigarette has dropped either onto his clothing or the car interior and this has caught alight.

“I find that due to his levels of intoxication he has either not been roused or has been unable to extricate himself from the fire before succumbing to the effects of smoke inhalation, which would have rapidly caused unconsciousness and death, which again would have been accelerated by his pre-existing heart disease.”