Sobbing mother tells inquest of fatal house fire

THE mother of a baby girl sobbed yesterday as she told how she screamed for help when flames engulfed the home where her daughter was sleeping.

Naila Bashir, a 26-year-old mother of three, had left her 10-month-old daughter Laiba Ahmed, who had suffered a restless night, alone in a first floor bedroom while she took her four-year-old brother a short trip to school – something she rarely did.

But as she returned home she noticed smoke billowing from the terrace house in Waverley Road, Bradford, and pleaded with neighbours to save her daughter, an inquest heard.

Taxi driver Talib Hussain told Bradford Coroner’s Court how he was woken on the morning of May 13 last year by the sound of knocking at his door.

He said of Mrs Bashir: “There was a lot of smoke coming from the house.

“She was screaming and crying. There was too much smoke coming for anyone to try to get into the house. The fire brigade came very quickly.’’

Pc Andrew Riley was one of the first on the scene. He told the court that about a minute after he arrived a fire officer came out of the house carrying a baby.

As his colleague went with the girl he spoke to Mrs Bashir, who was in an ambulance.

He told the hearing: “She said, ‘I’ve taken my son to school, she was asleep only a few minutes. I came back and the house was on fire.’

“I asked her if the baby was in on her own and she said yes.”

The inquest heard expert evidence that an electrical fault in a food processor which had been left switched on was the likely cause of the fire.

The blender had been used to make a milkshake when Laiba’s father, Ibrar Ahmed, and his brother Mohammed Kabir had an early morning breakfast before going to work.

The court heard that Laiba was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary suffering from smoke inhalation but transferred to Leeds General Infirmary, where she died on Ward 2 on May 17.

Det Con Julie Tiplady, of West Yorkshire Police, told the hearing she had interviewed Mrs Bashir a couple of days after the incident.

She said: “She did come across as very distressed throughout the interview and blamed herself for leaving her child. She did say it was not normal of her to leave her but the child was ill and she described in detail her normal routine.

“She explained to me that at the time of the fire she had taken her child to school. Naila explained her normal daily routine was to get up in the morning, she would take Laiba to her mum’s house while she takes her son to school, but not on this occasion.”

She went on to tell the court that the mother told her she had left the baby in bed in the front bedroom and was away for no more than 10 minutes.

Station manager Chris Clarke, of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Fire Investigation Team, said: “I believe the cause of fire was an electrical fault in the food processor.”

He added that the food processor was the only appliance that showed the switch in the “on” position.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, deputy coroner, Tim Ratcliffe, said: “She sadly died from the smoke that was caused by a fire in the house that morning.

“Tthe fire was started accidentally. It is not entirely clear how it was caused but it appears it was caused by a faulty device.”

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