Man, 85, dies as cigar sets M&S dressing gown alight
A RETIRED company director died in a freak accident when a breakfast time cigar set light to his Marks & Spencer dressing gown.
Roy Lawton, 85, was engulfed in flames when he nodded off and rested his hand against the thin cotton robe.
He managed to put out the flames and call his daughter-in-law, who lived next door, but suffered terrible burns to his face, shoulders and arms. The widower was rushed to hospital but died around five weeks later.
A coroner has now announced he is to write to M&S to express concerns about the safety of the garment.
Mr Lawton’s son, Ian, 63, said yesterday: ‘I was really surprised that Marks and Spencer, a shop of that stature, can stock something which poses such a hazard to its customers. I have already spoken to someone there but I am yet to get a proper answer. They gave the impression that it was my father’s own fault.’
Mr Lawton spoke to a friend at 6.15am on July 23 this year before making himself a coffee at the cottage where he lived near Cannock in Staffordshire. Coroner’s officer Andrew Heathcote told an inquest: ‘He used to like a big cigar with his coffee. He went and sat in his chair.
‘At 6.52am he phoned his daughterin-law and asked her to go to his house because he needed to see her.
‘When she got there she saw the remains of burned clothing that had been covered in water.’
The father-of-two was taken to the burns unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where he was given skin grafts. But he died on August 31 from pneumonia brought on by the burns.
Staffordshire Fire Service carried out tests on three of the same plain blue 100 per cent cotton dressing gowns that Mr Lawton was bought as a gift earlier this year.
The material smouldered in all three cases but did not catch light.
Codsall, Kinver and Wombourne fire station manager Ian Broadhead
‘Remains of burned clothing’
told the inquest in Cannock: ‘There are concerns about the dressing gown Mr Lawton was wearing.’
Former RAF serviceman Mr Lawton, whose wife Gillian died from a heart attack in 1993, was company director of Davroy Contracts, which specialises in ceiling suspension.
He lived in the same house for 60 years next door to his son and daughter-in-law, civil service employee Lynne, who helped to look after him.
Describing the call she received from her father-in-law, Mrs Lawton said: ‘I thought it was to bring over his breakfast but he said he needed help. When I got round I saw his dressing gown on the ground and he was on the phone calling an ambulance.’
Andrew Haigh, senior coroner for Staffordshire, said he would be contacting M&S about the test results on the dressing gown as he recorded a verdict of accidental death.
An M&S spokesman said: ‘We are looking into this. All our nightwear products are subject to rigorous safety testing.’