The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Grief-stricken mum brings court to tears
The mother of a man who died in a hotel blaze felt “tremendous guilt” she was not there to help rescue her son, an inquiry has heard.
Simon Midgley, 32, and his partner Richard Dyson, 38, from London, died in the blaze at the Cameron House Hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond in December 2017.
A fatal accident inquiry at Paisley Sheriff Court will look at issues of guest safety at the five-star hotel.
Sheriff Thomas McCartney held a minute’s silence before the inquiry heard a statement written by Mr Midgley’s mother, Jane Midgley, about her “gregarious” son, who had told her the day before his death that “2018 is going to be our year”.
“It was clear he had so much to live for and I still can’t comprehend how it was all taken away in a blink of an eye,” she told the inquiry.
In the statement, read out by Crown counsel Graeme Jessop, she said the death has had a “devastating effect” on her, and said her mental health had been severely impacted.
“The events of 18 December 2017 have had a devastating effect on my life. It has been almost five years of torture since that day, missing my Simon and waiting for him to walk through the door, announcing his presence in his usual way, ‘I’m here, mother dear’.”
The inquiry was told: “Losing a child is heartbreaking and I will never be able to come to terms with it or accept that Simon has gone. Every waking hour I live through what has happened that day, seeing Simon’s face.
“The thought of how he must have felt when he was trapped in that building, fighting to get out, tortures me. He must have been so frightened and I feel tremendous guilt that I was not there to help him.”
As the evidence was read out, family members wept in the court room.
The inquiry heard that post mortem tests on both men found they died from inhalation of smoke gases.
Mr Dyson was declared dead by paramedics after they fought to save his life, while Mr Midgley died at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
Hotel operator Cameron House Resort was fined £500,000 and night porter Christopher O’Malley given a community payback order over the fire.
Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard last year the fire started after O’Malley emptied embers from a fire into a polythene bag then put it in a cupboard of kindling and newspapers.
The inquiry continues.