Coroner criticies leading gas cooker supplier following deaths of five people in Cornwall
A coroner has criticised one of Britain's leading suppliers of gas cookers following the deaths of five people in Cornwall.
The five died at their homes in 2010 and 2013 from carbon monoxide poisoning.
The coroner Geraint Williams ruled that they died as a result of an accident but said suppliers Beko failed to highlight inherent defects in the cookers, which led to the deaths of 18 people in the UK and Ireland.
In November 2010, 30 year old Richard Smith and his 32 year old lodger Kevin Branton were found dead at the home they shared at the time in Saltash.
Three years later, in February 2013, the bodies of 90 year old John Cook, his 86 year old wife Maureen and their 47 year old daughter Audrey, were found at their park home in Camborne.
In both incidents, the victims had died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
And their cases have since been linked together at the same inquest because of their Beko cookers.
At the time those carrying out investigations at the home of the Cook family found high levels of carbon monoxide in the property. The Beko cooker in this case used a conversion kit to work with LPG gas. The cooker in the Saltash case was a flavel model using mains gas.
On Beko's own website, it says that on affected models if the top grill is operated with the grill door closed, the air supply to the grill burner is restricted which can cause extremely dangerous levels of carbon monoxide to be produced.
The company had been aware of a safety issue in January 2009 but didn't take immediate recall action. A product recall is still active on some Beko, Leisure and Flavel branded gas cookers made before January 2009. Affected models powered by mains gas and LPG are listed on the Beko website.
To date around 58% of people who bought affected cookers have been traced. At up to 17 years old some will have reached the end of their product life. But it's possible some could still be in use today. Meanwhile the coroner is reviewing what steps should be taken to prevent further deaths happening in similar circumstances.
In response Beko issued a statement saying: "Since these tragic incidents we've continued to raise our safety standards and the testing processes our products go through have become more robust and stringent.
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