Father 'forgot boys in flat fire'

Konnor and Kyal Owen were staying the night with their father

Two brothers died in a fire after their father forgot they were in his flat and left to find help, an inquest heard.

Michael Thomas awoke after drinking and smoking with friends to find a sofa alight at his Anglesey home, the Llangefni hearing was told.

He realised soon after that his sons Kyal Owen, four, and Konnor, three, were still inside, but could not find them when he fought his way back in.

Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones recorded verdicts of accidental death.

The boys had been staying the night at the flat above a coffee shop at Llanfaethlu, near Holyhead, in September 2006.

It is not the intention of inquests to determine matters of blame... but I think the circumstances here, without my saying anything, would indicate where the blame lay Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones

The inquest was told that Mr Thomas had apparently tried to beat out the fire with his T-shirt, before dashing outside and asking a taxi driver to dial 999.

He then ran to tell the landlady that the flat was ablaze before returning a few minutes later and realising the children were in the flat.

Mr Thomas battled his way into their bedroom but could not find the boys, because they had gone towards the seat of the fire in the lounge.

The inquest was told that if they had remained in their bedroom they might have been saved.

A villager and the taxi driver were beaten back by smoke and flames as they tried to reach them.

The scene of the fire at Llanfaethlu, near Holyhead, Anglesey

Mr Thomas was asked by the coroner whether he had had a lot to drink that night in the flat.

"I don't know, I can't remember," he said. "I remember vaguely knocking the door of the taxi."

Lack of smoke detectors

Mr Thomas said he might have fallen asleep and then woken up to find smoke.

The coroner asked him: "Do you think it's possible you could have fallen asleep with a cigarette remaining alight?" to which he replied: "I don't know."

The coroner said: "Is that a possibility?" and Mr Thomas replied: "It could have been, yes."

Mr Pritchard-Jones said that had Mr Thomas remembered the children when he was trying to put out the flames then he might have been able to get them out, instead of running to the landlady.

"It is not the intention of inquests to determine matters of blame," said the coroner.

"But I think the circumstances here, without my saying anything, would indicate where the blame lay."

He said lifestyle, sometimes involving drink and smoking, and a lack of smoke detectors and fire doors appeared to be claiming more lives in north Wales than in other places.