A BEDFONT woman was gassed to death by her boiler after a plumber failed to carry out crucial safety checks, a court has been told.
Elouise Littlewood, 26, collapsed and died from carbon monoxide poisoning at her Wooldridge Close flat and her lodger Simon Kilby, now 35, suffered organ failure and massive brain damage.
The father-of-one was left unable to speak, move, eat or breathe without the help of machines after breathing in fumes from the leaking appliance, the Old Bailey was told.
Police broke into the new-build flat on 27 February, 2008, after family and colleagues became concerned when the pair both failed to show up for work.
They found Miss Littlewood dead in the bathroom and Mr Kilby unconscious in the living room.
Gas fitter Paul Williamson, 53, of Chaucer Gardens, Sutton, this week stood trial accused of manslaughter by gross negligence and grievous bodily harm. He denies both charges, as well as a third charge of breaching gas safety regulations.
The court was told Williamson passed the flat’s boiler and flue as safe without carrying out the necessary checks.
Prosecutor Edward Brown QC told jurors: “It is the case for the Crown that the victims’ respective death and very serious and permanent injury were caused by the gross negligence and recklessness of the first defendant, Paul Williamson, whose job it was to examine the boiler and the flue thoroughly.”
Williamson’s former employer, Malden Plumbing and Heating Ltd, faces a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act, which it denies.
The company had installed much of the plumbing at the development and Miss Littlewood’s death triggered an investigation into the plumbing in other flats.
Two experts inspected 19 of the properties and found sub-standard work in 10 of them, the court was told.
The lapses included disconnected flue pipes, air supply and flue pipes cut so short they did not connect properly, pipes with an excessive number of joins and a lack of proper support brackets.
During the investigation, the boiler from Miss Littlewood’s flat was also found to be producing abnormally high levels of carbon monoxide.
The trial continues and is expected to run for another fortnight.
