Owners of hotel where blaze killed three admit breach of safety rules

The Yorkshire-based owners of a hotel which caught fire, resulting in the deaths of three people, have admitted breaching health and safety regulations.

Monica Hughes, 86, and her 43-year-old son Peter died along with 80-year-old Joan Harper when the Penhallow Hotel in Newquay, Cornwall, burned to the ground on August 17, 2007.

At Truro Crown Court yesterday O&C Holdsworth Ltd, which owned the hotel, admitted failing to ensure fire detectors and alarms were working or making an adequate risk assessment before the blaze, which was Britain’s most deadly hotel fire in 40 years.

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Two directors of the company, Nicola Burfitt and John McMillan, both denied three charges relating to them personally, with the prosecution saying it was “not in the public interest” to pursue them.

Speaking outside the court, John Hughes, Monica’s son and Peter’s brother, said he hoped lessons would be learnt by the tourism industry from the fire.

“I am pleased at least to have an admission of guilt from the owners of Penhallow. It has been hell for the last few years,” said Mr Hughes, who is from Shrewsbury.

“The best thing that could come out of this is that the tourism agencies and hotels sit up and take note. There are still premises and hotels around the country that are not complying with fire regulations.”

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Ninety people managed to escape from the 54-bedroom hotel but Monica and Peter Hughes and Mrs Harper, from Staffordshire, were unable to escape flames that at their height were tackled by 100 firefighters.

The fire is believed to have started in a hotel bar drink store. Flames reached 30ft (9.1m) into the sky and the building, in Island Crescent in the town, later had to be demolished.

At an inquest into the deaths, the company directors refused to answer questions about the fire safety training staff at the hotel had received and the hearing heard the hotel had been warned its fire safety system was not up to scratch in the months before the fire.

Prosecutor David Sapeicha told the court yesterday: “The company has accepted responsibility. The prosecution does not believe that it is in the public interest to prosecute the staff at this stage.”

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Cornwall Council, which brought the prosecution under the Regulatory Reform Order (Fire Safety) 2005, said it welcomed the guilty plea.

Judge Christopher Elwen adjourned sentencing of the company, based in Halifax, until May 4.

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