Faulty fridge caused fatal fire

Victims of the explosion which ripped through a house in Curzon Road, Ashton are Hazel Wilson and her husband John. Hazel was nominated in the Pride of Manchester Awards for nursing John after he had a lung transplant in 2004..

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A FAULTY fridge sparked a blaze which claimed a father's life after he was forced to leap from a window.

John Wilson, who was seriously ill, jumped out of an upstairs room after a Beko fridge-freezer caused a fire, an inquest heard.

The 63-year-old broke several bones when he fell on to a mattress, landing on his back. He also suffered smoke inhalation and burns and died in hospital three days later.

His daughter Danielle (23) was the only one left in the property when flames gutted it following the explosion of an oxygen canister, which had been used by John after a lung transplant.

Ten people were injured in the blast last August, including Danielle's mother and neighbours who went to help at the front of the terrace home on Curzon Road, Ashton.

Danielle, a nurse who lived with her parents, told how the floor fell from underneath her as she clung terrified from an upstairs window.

She managed to pull herself up through a window and on to the roof, before leaping to the ground. She suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung as well as serious burns.

Stockport Coroner's Court concluded that a fault with a Beko fridge-freezer subject to a product recall caused the fire.

Around 500,000 Beko fridge-freezers were made between 2000 and 2006 with a faulty defrost timer which can catch fire.

Danielle has backed calls for reform to force manufacturers to publish death trap machines on a single national register.

Danielle said: "My dad would still be here if they had properly recalled all these machines."

A Beko spokesman said: "Our sympathies are with the relatives and friends of Mr Wilson and his family. We deeply regret any incident linked to one of our products. Extensive efforts were made to recall the product."