Police taser 'most likely' cause of man's 'fireball' death

A police taser was the 'most likely' cause of a petrol-soaked man catching fire and dying in Plymouth, an inquest jury concluded today.

32-year-old Andrew Pimlott poured fuel over himself when PC Peter Hodgkinson fired the weapon at him in the back garden of his parents' Plymouth home in April 2013.

The jury said PC Hodgkinson's actions were "in accordance" with his training.

PC Hodgkinson and his colleague had answered a 999 call from Mr Pimlott's father, who reported that his son was carrying a can of petrol, may have a lighter and was breaching a magistrates' restraining order.

Mr Pimlott erupted in a ball of fire just 41 seconds after the two officers arrived on the scene. He died in hospital five days later from severe burns.

The two officers had insisted that Mr Pimlott was holding a lit match but, in anarrative conclusion, the jurors said "we don't know" whether he was holding a flame or not, although he was in possession of matches.