Man killed in fire at five star hotel 'had so much to live for', inquiry hears

Simon Midgley, 32, and his partner Richard Dyson, 38, died following the blaze at the Cameron House Hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond, in December 2017.

A fatal accident inquiry at Paisley Sheriff Court in Scotland is examining circumstances surrounding the deaths and fire safety at the hotel.

Jane Midgley, from Pudsey in Leeds, told the inquiry her “gregarious” son Simon “had so much to live for” and the day before his death, he had told her “2018 was going to be our year”.

In a statement, she also said her son’s death has had a “devastating effect” on her life.

“I cannot put into words what it was like to receive the telephone call from the police, telling me that my son had been killed so suddenly and in such shocking circumstances,” she said.

“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’.

“Losing a child is heart-breaking 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.”

The inquiry heard that post mortem tests on both men found they died from inhalation of smoke fire gases, caused by the hotel fire, suggesting they were alive during the blaze.

Mr Dyson, whose family live in Wetherby, was declared dead by members of the Scottish Ambulance Service and Mr Midgley died at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

Darren Robinson, who was the hotel’s night manager at the time, said fire and heat alarms were located across the property, and explained what would happen if one went off.

“It sets off a buzzer on the fire control panel situated at reception,” he said.

“Once that goes off I, as the night manager, have three minutes to get to the detection, investigate it, check if it was a false alarm or if anything was going on.

“After three minutes it would automatically go to a full alarm.”

Hotel operator Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Ltd was fined £500,000 last year, after admitting to breaches of fire safety rules.

The blaze broke out after night porter Christopher O’Malley emptied ash and embers from a fuel fire into a polythene bag, and then put it in a cupboard of kindling and newspapers.

He was given a community payback order at Dunbarton Sheriff Court last year, for breaching health and safety laws.

In April last year, Senior Coroner Kevin McLoughlin ruled the two men had been unlawfully killed, during an inquest in Wakefield.

The coroner said he could safely reach the verdict, even though there had been no manslaughter prosecution in Scotland.

He said one key element of this decision was that the hotel had been “expressly warned” about slack procedures for dealing with embers from open fires.

The inquiry continues.