Fatal gas blast in York '˜looked like a plane had hit house'

Paul Wilmott, 63, died in the explosion caused by the fracture of a corroded pipe at his home on Springwood, in Haxby, York, in February last year.

An inquest into his death heard that emergency services found a catastrophic scene with one house “completely missing” and others seriously damaged.

Andrew Hewitson, a paramedic with Yorkshire Ambulance Service, told the inquest in York: “It’s something I’ve never seen before. Complete destruction.

“My first personal thought was it was a possible plane crash, the way the house had caved in.”

He added: “We arrived on the scene to destruction. The street was covered with debris, cars were covered with concrete.

“Windows looked to be blown in, all the glass was shattered. Complete devastation.

“It was obvious there was one house completely missing.”

Michael Jamieson, a watch manager with North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, also described the scene to the jury of seven women and four men.

He said: “It was almost like an air strike. There was virtually no house left.”

He added: “I’ve been to gas explosions before but I’ve never seen something with that level of destruction.”

Mr Jamieson told the inquest he found Mr Wilmott’s body lying face down underneath rubble at the back of the house.

Mr Hewitson pronounced him dead after checks revealed he had no heartbeat or pulse and was not breathing.

The inquest heard that Mr Wilmott died as a result of multiple fractures of the skull and injuries to the brain consistent with having been sustained in a domestic explosion.

Coroner Rob Turnbull told the jury that an investigation by North Yorkshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive found that a corroded copper pipe, buried in the concrete floor when the house was built in the early 1970s, had fractured.

He said the pipe had fractured at the point where two concrete slabs met and there was evidence these slabs had moved, possibly as a result of bad weather leaving the surrounding ground waterlogged.

Mr Turnbull read a statement by Olivia Costello, Mr Wilmott’s partner of nine years.

Ms Costello, from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, said she and Mr Wilmott had noticed a smell in the house in the weeks before the explosion, but ruled out gas as the cause.

She said: “Paul and I noticed a strange smell in his house. It was very extreme and pungent.

“To me, it smelt like something had died and was so horrible and strong it made me feel sick.

“Paul and I discussed what the smell might be and came to the conclusion it was caused by a dead ants’ nest in the wall.”