Valerie Willis

 I came across this case online recently, from 2013, its near where I live - a street property in Kentish Town, the landlord Camden Council. [from what i can make of things VW died 18 April 2013]

26 April 2013 

https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/terminally-ill-woman-found-dead-in-bed-after-fire-at-3443532

6 November 2013 

https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/crime/elderly-woman-died-kentish-town-house-fire-3458922

Thursday 7 August 2014 

https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/sale-fatal-fire-flat-attacked-shortsighted

12 Nov 2013 

Kentish Town fire death: Coroner investigates lack of smoke detectors in frail woman's council flat 

https://www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/kentish-town-fire-death-coroner-investigates-lack-smoke-detectors-frail-womans-counc-0?sp=29&sq=our%2520neighbours

Published: 12 November 2013
By ALICE HUTTON

A TERMINALLY ill by pensioner killed in a fire started by a discarded cigarette had no smoke detectors insider her Kentish Town council flat, an inquest has heard.

Neighbours raised the alarm after noticing smoke pouring from the windows of Valerie Willis's ground-floor flat in Countess Road on April 18.

The frail 74-year-old, a widow with no children, was suffering from breast cancer that had spread to her liver, lungs and kidneys and relied on council workers as well as neighbours to care for her.

St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard last week that the heavy smoker, whose illness had taken a toll on her memory since diagnosis in 2011, had been initially resistant to installing smoke alarms but agreed to have them fitted, only to remove them later.

Firefighters found her in bed, surrounded by filled ashtrays, after breaking down the door.

Watch manager Matthew Cullen said: “There was evidence that she was a heavy smoker. It could well have been a carelessly held match or discarded cigarette.”

Coroner Selena Lynch asked Amecie Steadman, service manager for Camden Council’s adult social care, why Mrs Willis had been allowed to refuse the smoke detectors when she was so ill.

Mrs Lynch said: “She was pretty much bed-bound and a smoker. The question arises: Just why on earth didn’t somebody put a smoke alarm in that property?”

Ms Steadman said that in a report from a social worker who visited Mrs Willis only days before her death the non-smoking box had been ticked. As a result she had not been flagged up as vulnerable to an outbreak of fire.

“The social worker said there was no evidence when she visited that she was a smoker,” Ms Steadman said. “That was days before the fire.”

Speaking about the smoke detectors, she said: “She had declined to have them fitted. They can [decline] but, certainly with vulnerable adults, we would really encourage people to allow it.”

She added that mandatory training sessions on vulnerable people had now been started by the council.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mrs Lynch said: “She was obviously frail and sick so I would guess that any amount of smoke inhalation would have been too much for her.”

A report from the pathologist gave the cause of death as severe thermal burns followed by small cell carcinoma [cancer] in her liver, kidney, breast and lungs.

“We will never know what a smoke detector would have done,” Mrs Lynch said.

“She accidentally set fire to the bedding in her home by a carelessly discarded cigarette. I hope that progress is made so that everybody has a working smoke detector in their home.”