An 18-year-old university student died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a portable heater in an aristocrat’s cottage that shouldn’t have been used indoors, an inquest was told.
Tom Hill was about to have a bath when he inhaled the highly poisonous gas leaking out of a portable heater at Glenmark Cottage, nestled in the Scottish Highlands, and collapsed shortly afterwards.
The Stirling University student had been staying with his girlfriend Charlotte and her immediate family on October 28, 2015, where it was heard the device was situated in a bathroom, which had windows sealed by paint and was ‘simply too small’.
Winchester Coroner’s Court was told an alarm sounded the night before Tom had died, which prompted Charlotte’s father Mark Beard to switch off various devices in the kitchen, but it hadn’t occurred to him to vacate the property.
Mr Beard told the inquest that the LPG Heaters were ‘ubiquitously used’ at the property which was heated by a wood-burning stove and portable heaters, but had no electricity or mains gas.
He said there were no clear instructions on the heater saying it shouldn’t be used indoors, and described not checking the device despite being informed by his son that it was switched on as one of his ‘life long regrets’.
‘The night before Tom died, that alarm did activate,’ he told the coroner’s court: ‘What I did was turn off all appliances in that kitchen that I thought may be sources of carbon monoxide.
Tom Hill, 18 (pictured) died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a portable heater in an aristocrat’s cottage in the Scottish Highlands, an inquest was told
The heater should not have been used indoors an inquest into the Stirling University student’s death heard today
‘The kitchen was the place where there was the greatest number of those sources,’ he added: ‘One of my life long regrets is that I didn’t take his information about the bathroom heater as seriously as I should have done.
‘I didn’t tell anyone to get out of the cottage, it didn’t occur to met to get out of the cottage.’
Mr Beard said he had visited the cottage, which was once owned by the Earl of Dalhousie and his heir Lord Ramsay, many times in his life, describing the location as an ‘idyllic beauty’ and a place to ‘unwind’.
Despite being owned by the Dalhousie estate, it was rented out by retired teacher Piers Le Cheminant.
On the night of the aquaculture student died, Charlotte’s father recalled his daughter ‘knocking’ on the bathroom door and calling for him.
‘When I heard the change in her tone of voice, it became more alarmed, that peaked my attention particular,’ he said: ‘I rushed downstairs to see what was up and by the time I got there, so had my wife and son.
‘Charlotte was quite distraught at not getting any response from Tom.’
Mr Beard said he asked his teenage son to fetch a wooden axe which they used to forcibly open the ‘solid’ door to the bathroom.
The engineer described an ‘intense’ atmosphere upon breaking into the room, which was ‘hot and humid’.
Describing it as a ‘very visceral experience,’ he added: ‘It was extremely hot and the air was very humid – you could almost taste it.’
Adding how there was a ‘strong smell of unburnt gases’, and how ‘it smelt like the heater wasn’t operating properly,’ Mr Beard said the device was ‘also making a loud buzzing which was very unusual’.
‘He didn’t live a very long life but in the short time he had, he really made the most of his time,’ his father Jerry Hill said
Mr Beard said he lifted Tom out of the bathroom and carried him downstairs and outside into the ‘fresh air’.
An ambulance was called for the teenager but he passed away in the vehicle, which was travelling from Brechin to Dundee.
‘Carbon monoxide is very much a silent killer and as much awareness when using potentially lethal devices that can be raised is so much better for everybody,’ he said.
Jerry Hill, Tom’s father, told the inquest that his son was ‘very interested in wildlife and nature’ with a particular interest in understanding how different creatures interacted.
‘He didn’t live a very long life but in the short time he had, he really made the most of his time,’ he said.
‘He had his whole ahead of him,’ Mr Hill said of his son, who he described as ‘very passionate’ about the practice of aquaculture.
The grieving father believes more needs to be done on what to do when a carbon monoxide alarm sounds.
‘It should be made really clear to people what to do in these circumstances,’ he added,’ ‘I don’t think people do know what to do when [alarms] go off.’
Now, almost 10 years after his death, Jason Pegg – area coroner for Hampshire, Southampton, and Portsmouth – delivered an accidental death conclusion, but said he will raise a prevention of future deaths report into the use of such devices.
Addressing Mr and Mrs Hill, the coroner said: ‘You are clearly very proud parents of Tom, who in his 18 years, as you say, made the most of his life.
‘It’s desperately sad that Tom had future plans with his aquaculture degree, he had a girlfriend, loving parents.
Today, a decade after his death, Jason Pegg – area coroner for Hampshire, Southampton, and Portsmouth – ruled his death accidental, and will raise a prevention of future death report into the use of portable heaters
‘At the time of his death, he was enjoying some time up in Scotland in a remote, idyllic cottage with his girlfriend and her family.’
The coroner referred to the LPG heaters in the bathroom and said: ‘It is quite clear that this type of heater, and the size of heater, shouldn’t have been used in the bathroom which I’m told had the size of 11 cubic metres.
‘The bathroom was simply too small for for that heater.
‘In addition, there was no ventilation. The windows had been painted shut and could not be opened.’
Mr Pegg also said there ‘damage to the heater’ which ‘exacerbated’ the combustion of the gas and the rate at which it was emitted.
He concluded that Tom inhaled a ‘fatal quantity’ of this gas while he prepared for his bath.
The coroner said he will issue a prevention of future deaths report relating to the warning on the heater.
‘There is a warning within the box where you put the gas canister, but anyone, such as the Beard family, turning up to a rented cottage, they would not know that the heater should not be used in such close confines,’ Mr Pegg told the inquest.
‘In rented cottages, and tenant cottages, there are going to be heaters of this sort which are in rooms which are too small [and] this gives rise to future deaths.
‘As you sadly know, carbon monoxide is very much a silent killer and as much awareness when using potentially lethal devices that can be raised is so much better for everybody.’
