Open verdict on hotel fire deaths

Mr Hughes jumped from a third-floor window after trying to save his mother

The cause of a fire at a Newquay hotel is still unclear after an open verdict was recorded on deaths of three guests.

Peter Hughes, 43, his mother, Monica, 86, and Joan Harper, 80, all from Staffordshire, died at the Penhallow Hotel in Newquay in 2007.

The jury at their inquest recorded the verdicts on the directions of the coroner as fire investigators could not say for sure what had caused the blaze.

Four people held on suspicion of murder were released without charge.

However, police have said the case remains open and that although there are no prosecutions pending, they will investigate any new evidence which comes to light.

Naked flame

Fire chiefs told the jury at the four-week inquest in Truro that more than 100 firefighters fought the blaze on 18 August 2007 and described it as the worst seen in the UK for more than 40 years.

Crews arrived to scenes of "pandemonium" with flames reaching 30ft into the sky.

The 54-room hotel was destroyed in the blaze

The inquest was told that the blaze was so fierce that firefighters could not enter the hotel and that attempts made to reach an elderly woman at a third floor window were rendered impossible because of the fire and smoke.

The inquest also heard how the use of an aerial ladder platform would have made no difference to the outcome of the fire.

The inquest heard the electrical wiring in the hotel's lift was "very old" and a system more commonly used "in the 1960s" and that the hotel had a new main electrical system installed in 2003, excluding the lift, which operated on a separate circuit.

'Disappointing verdicts'

About 90 people managed to escape from the fire at the 54-bedroom hotel which is believed to have started in a drinks store behind the hotel's bar.

The jury was told by a forensics expert that the ignition of material by a naked flame was the most likely cause of the fire, which spread rapidly vertically through a first-floor boiler room.

After recording the open verdict, coroner Dr Emma Carlyon told the inquest she would write to the government to warn of the "risk of future deaths" in hotels if investment in fire safety were not supported by the government.

Speaking after the hearing, John Hughes, who lost both his mother and brother in the fire, said: "The resulting verdict of an open verdict is somewhat disappointing for both families.

"There is a very high probability that the fire was started deliberately but the coroner needs to be 100% sure.

"However, we understand that this is still an ongoing police inquiry."