Council safety queried after blaze deaths

The teenagers were sitting inside the storage shed

A north Wales coroner has expressed his concern regarding the health and safety policy of Conwy County Council following the deaths of two teenagers.

Daniel Cleverley, 15, and 13-year-old Kirsty Burvill died when a council storage shed they were in was set alight in Colwyn Bay last October.

Kirsty Burvill: Caught in fire

At Llandudno magistrates on Tuesday, several witnesses said they had noticed that the door of the shed was unhinged and insecure.

Nobody had reported the incident to the local authority.

Coroner John Hughes asked Paul Frost, assistant director of Conwy county council's leisure department: "It's quite clear, isn't it, that if the premises had been secure Kirsty and Daniel wouldn't have been able to get in?

"It's as simple and prosaic as that?"

Mr Frost replied: "Yes."

The victims of the blaze had been courting for a couple of months and had sought refuge inside the building in Eirias Park during the October half-term.

An 11-year-old boy admitted starting the blaze and was placed on a three-year supervision order last December.

He pleaded guilty to arson and the prosecution told a youth court at Llandudno that it was accepted that he had not realised the pair were inside the building.

The blaze broke out after he set fire to foam matting in the open doorway.

Daniel Cleverley: Blaze victim

As the couple sat inside the blaze took hold and they were overcome by toxic fumes.

The inquest has been adjourned until 21 May.

Speaking during the inquest Daniel's father, David Cleverley said his son would never purposefully do anything wrong and would not enter a building if it was secured.

Geoffrey Burvill, a retired local government officer, described his daughter as bright and talented with a civic sense of awareness and said Daniel was a caring youth.

Hundreds of mourners attended separate funerals which were held in the town for Kirsty and Daniel.