Family killed by gas after father botched DIY job

The Times (London, England). (Aug. 3, 2001): Regional News: p3.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2001 NI Syndication Limited. The Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk

Full Text:
Byline: Tim Reid
A man and his family were found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after he repaired the gas
boiler himself.
The bodies of Peter Stone, his wife, Joan, and 16-year-old daughter Emma were discovered by
firemen two weeks after Mr Stone had mended the boiler on his own. The botched DIY job
resulted in a slow leak of the gas, which had been poisoning the family for a fortnight, an inquest
was told yesterday.
There were warning signs that something was terribly wrong in their Cumbrian home but no one
heeded them. Emma, a member of the local Pony Club, had begun to complain of a sore throat.
Mrs Stone told neighbours how tired she suddenly felt. Mr Stone had become so exhausted that
he started to sleep through his clock's alarm.
Then, on December 30 last year, an off-duty fireman walking his dog heard a gas alarm ringing
inside the Stones' home in the village of Cleator Moor, and immediately telephoned the station.
Stephen Wilson, a watch commander at Whitehaven Fire Brigade, Cumbria, kicked down the
front door when his team arrived and found Emma sprawled in the living room.
"She was still warm," he said. "This gave us a false impression of a chance of her being alive."
They tried to revive her in the garden but within minutes a doctor pronounced Emma and her
parents, who were found in the kitchen, dead at the scene.
The inquest in Whitehaven was told that Mr Stone, 50, was a retired electrical engineer who had
worked at the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. He detested the idea of paying contractors for
work that he felt he could do himself, and had installed the boiler 11 years previously. He had
never had the appliance serviced by a trained engineer, and he carried out his own repairs when
it began malfunctioning two weeks before the tragedy.
Mr Stone, 47, and Emma were last seen alive the day before their bodies were discovered when
they were visited by the Jacques family, their neighbours. Bianca Jacques, a friend of Emma who had just begun her A-level studies as a sixth-former at Whitehaven school -had gone to help
her and her mother to make plans for Emma's 17th birthday on January 6.
Mary Pegg, a colleague and friend of Mrs Stone at the Summergrove Hotel, where Mrs Stone
was a restaurant manager, said: "When Joan told me Peter had been repairing the boiler himself
I laughed and said I wouldn't let my husband within 25 miles of mine. It was a joke between us."
Mrs Pegg said that Mrs Stone had complained of being tired but said she had been working long
hours. Mrs Stone also told her that a Bonsai tree, given to her by Mr Stone for Christmas, had
gone a strange yellow colour within days of being in the house.

The deaths shocked the community, where the Stones had lived for 15 years. A church New
Year's Eve party was cancelled and a snowman that Emma had built in her garden was
surrounded by roses.
John Taylor, the West Cumbria Coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death. He said: "I think
the tragic events we have heard serve as a reminder that it is, and can be, a question of life and
death. It is vital that gas and electrical equipment should be properly installed and maintained."
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colourless, odorless, tasteless toxic gas produced during incomplete
combustion of fuel.
During normal combustion, each atom of carbon in the burning fuel joins with two atoms of
oxygen, forming the relatively harmless carbon dioxide. When there is a lack of oxygen to ensure
complete combustion of the fuel (usually because of a blocked or damaged vent) each atom of
carbon links up with only one atom of oxygen, forming carbon monoxide gas.
SAFETY GUIDELINES
* Try to have a Corgi (Council for Registered Gas Installers) engineer do installation.
* Ensure adequate ventilation around appliance at all times.
* Air vents, ventilation grilles and flues should never be covered, blocked or obstructed.
* Never continue using appliance if you suspect it is faulty. Warning signs include yellow or
orange flames, soot or stains around device and pilot lights frequently blowing out.
* Install a carbon monoxide alarm.
Copyright (C) The Times, 2001