Latest Expert Witness News

Expert gives advice after tragic death

Forensic Scientist Ken Arnold said that all electric blankets should be “serviced every three years and dumped after 10 years”.

The expert was speaking at an inquest at the Coroner’s Court in Derry into the death of an 18- month-old baby girl who died from burns after her parents’ 15-year- old electric blanket caught fire. The faulty blanket, which malfunctioned, was on Sarah Jane Mullan’s parents’ bed when it caught fire on June 16th, 2009. Sarah Jane was asleep in a cot in her parents’ bedroom, when the fire started. She suffered extensive burns to her face and head and died the following day in hospital.

Her parents, Stephen and Marie Mullan, told Coroner John L Leckey, that they were alerted to the fire when two smoke alarms in their farmhouse home activated.

Both tried to rescue the youngest of their four children but said they were beaten back by a combination of flames, intense heat and thick smoke.

Ms Mullan said she had only put her baby to bed five minutes before the smoke alarms went off.

Two senior fire officers, said it was the first time they had been involved in an inquest in which a faulty electric blanket had caused a fatal fire.

Mr Arnold said the regular usage and the folding of an electric blanket could cause the wiring system to become brittle.

Describing the death of Sarah Jane as “a terrible tragedy”, the coroner said the efforts to attempt to save the baby were valiant and he said that in no way should her parents “feel any responsibility for the tragic death of their baby daughter”.

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