Hodge Jones & Allen

Press Release

6th June 2011

 

A jury sat in the Croyden Coroner’s Court gave its verdict last Friday (3rd June 2011) into the death of Maria Ighodalo, a young woman from Norwood who died from carbon monoxide poisoning on 14 November 2007. The court heard evidence that the carbon monoxide had come from a faulty gas boiler located in the flat directly beneath Maria Ighodalo’s. The Jury returned a verdict of “accidental death”, but concluded that the fault in the boiler was the “air gas ratio” valve, found to have a setting far outside the normal parameters of its design, resulting in “unclean” combustion and ultimately high levels of the lethal gas.

On the night before her death, Maria Ighodalo had slept in the second bedroom of her property, her 10 year old daughter Lachelle’s room, having given her own room to a friend who was staying with her overnight. There were a number of circumstances, described by the Coroner, as “incredibly unusual” that lead to the carbon monoxide entering the upstairs flat. Expert gas engineer Tony Mellor explained how gases, had travelled up from a flue vent below Maria’s flat, entering the second bedroom through a trickle vent above the bedroom window. Mr Mellor reported that it was only the second time he had come across an instance where carbon monoxide gases had been expelled outside one property and re-entered another. The level of carbon monoxide being produced from the boiler was almost four times greater than the amount considered lethal. The block of flats where the death occurred belong to London & Quadrant Housing and had only been completed a few months before Maria Ighodalo’s death. It is believed there are 40 flats in total all fitted with the same boilers, the Gloworm 24CXIS model manufactured by Valliant Group UK limited.

 

It was also revealed in the course of the inquest that the “air-gas ratio” valve on Maria’s own boiler was incorrectly set, however, investigators found no evidence of high carbon monoxide emissions from that boiler. The valves are pre-set in the factory before they are sent out to be installed. The Jury considered whether the boiler could have been adjusted after installation, however, determined there was no such evidence that either the occupants of the flat or one of the gas fitters had ever touched the valve settings.

 

Maria Ighodalo was 27 when she died, leaving behind one daughter Lachelle, now 13. Lorraine Wint, the sister of Maria Ighodalo, expressed her frustration at the amount of time it had taken for Maria’s death to be looked into, but commented that “she hoped that many of the safety concerns that arose in the course of the Inquest would now be properly looked into in order that such a tragedy does not occur again”.

 

Coroner Roy Palmer said he would be writing to the relevant authorities about safety measures that could be taken to prevent such an incident from occurring again. He commented that the 1998 safety guidelines were out of date and did not address the use of condensing boilers, the type fitted in the Norwood flats. He also noted that there was testing available that, if carried out at the point of installation, would seek to detect unsafe emissions. He decided to make a recommendation under Rule 43 of the Coroners Rules 1984 that regulations should require gas flue emissions to be tested for carbon monoxide using an Electronic Combustion Gas Analyser on installation and on every subsequent service.

The family of Maria Ighodalo are bringing a civil claim on behalf of Lachelle against the manufacturers of the boiler under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

 

Peter Todd of Hodge Jones Allen LLP, solicitor for the Ighodalo family, said: “In this case the jury found that the defect in the way the valve in the boiler had been set at the time of manufacture meant that when used it was liable to and did emit colossal amounts of carbon monoxide which were sufficient, despite adequate venting, to kill a neighbour. It is a terrible tragedy for this family. About 40 people are killed every year in the UK by carbon monoxide and yet we surprisingly found there are no regulations which require a ECGA test to be done at installation and servicing which would help to prevent deaths. I hope the Rule 43 recommendation will be put into law and save lives in the future”.

 

Note to Editors

In respect of the civil claim, the family of Maria Ighodalo are represented by Peter Todd, Partner, Hodge Jones & Allen LLP and David Sanderson, Counsel, of 12 King’s Bench Walk.
 

For more information, please contact Peter Todd, t: 020 7874 8467 (direct line) 0782 4437466 (mobile), email: ptodd@hja.net