Inquest opens into death of Wirral pensioner (From Wirral Globe)

Inquest opens into death of Wirral pensioner

11:04am Friday 1st March 2013 in News By Stephanie Cureton

AN inquest has been opened into the death of an elderly woman who lost her life in a fire at her home.

The inquiry into the death of Mrs Veronica Broughal, 80, from Lloyd Drive, Greasby, was opened at the West Kirby offices of the borough’s coroner on Wednesday following the tragedy two days earlier.

Coroner’s officer Lea Cripps said a neighbour had called the fire brigade after noticing smoke billowing from the chimney.

She said: “At around 5.15pm, the deceased’s neighbour was outside in his front garden cleaning his mini-bus when he heard an alarm going off from inside.

“This was not unusual so he ignored it at first. Five minutes later, he looked at the house and saw smoke coming from the chimney and when he looked into the letterbox, he saw smoke coming out.

“He immediately ran to his house and his wife contacted emergency services.”

On his return to the deceased’s property, he kicked the front door - another neighbour came to assist and they managed to kick out the middle panel of the PVC door. But the smoke was too bad and they were unable to enter.

“One of the neighbours went to the back of the property where he opened the patio doors and was able to shout through but got no response. The house was filled with smoke so they were unable to enter,” said Ms Cripps.

Police confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident.

Cause of death has not been established at present as it is pending results of samples taken from a post-mortem examination and a report from Merseyside Fire and Rescue.

The inquest was adjourned until a date to be fixed.