Retired teacher and her solicitor son's deaths in Yorkshire house fire ruled accidental despite police suspicions

Retired teacher Muriel Sim, 84, and solicitor Iain Scott Sim, know as Scott, 53, were both killed after the four-bedroom family home on Manor Close in Camblesforth, near Selby, caught fire in the early hours of June 19 last year.

An inquest at North Yorkshire Coroner’s Court heard on Friday that Muriel’s other son John, also in his 50s, managed to escape the inferno but could not rescue his elderly mother, who was wheelchair-bound, and brother.

Scott Sim had recently lost his job before the fire, which came shortly after the death of their father Dr John Wilson Sim, and moved into the detached house. His brother described him as ‘a bit depressed’ and his GP confirmed that he was a ‘problem drinker’. Scott was also described as having nocturnal habits.

All three members of the family had drunk wine on the evening before the fire began, and Scott’s blood alcohol level at postmortem was given as 340mg – over four times the legal drink drive limit.

John said he was woken at around 4am by Scott, who said he needed help to move his mattress. John discovered a ‘glowing’ patch on Scott’s bed, which he extinguished with water and went back to bed. However, 10 minutes later he could smell smoke and saw Scott’s wardrobe was fully alight, with the fire spreading quickly.

Muriel had also woken, but she had limited mobility after several hip operations and usually used a stairlift, which was inoperable because the electrics had cut out. John went downstairs to dial 999, but by the time he had done so, falling items from the landing had ignited further fires at the bottom of the stairs and Muriel and Scott were trapped.

A driver returning from Leeds Bradford Airport saw smoke from the main road and tried to rescue the family, climbing up to Muriel’s bedroom window on a stepladder. However, he was unable to pull her out as the window was not large enough. He helped John out of the property, by which time the entire first floor was consumed by flames.

A neighbour heard Muriel shouting for help and CCTV from the house opposite captured a person’s arms waving from an upstairs window. John said that Scott was already unconscious on the landing, he believed through inebriation, by the time he had descended the stairs.

John was also heard to tell neighbours that ‘Scott was drunk and has done this deliberately to kill himself’, but when questioned by assistant coroner Jonathan Leach, said he was not ‘thinking rationally’ at the time and that with hindsight he believed Scott had accidentally started the fire while smoking in bed.

Fire investigation officer Peter Gregory said that two separate ‘seats’ of ignition were found in Scott’s bedroom, on the bed and at the wardrobe, and that the fire had spread so rapidly because the window and door were open, the wardrobe did not have doors protecting the ‘combustible’ clothes inside and because there was a further doorless wardrobe and a bookcase on the landing which caught alight. He added that this arrangement of furniture was ‘unusual’ but said there was no evidence the family had been hoarders.

The cause of the blaze was identified as accelerants including bhutane gas and lighter fluid believed to be smoker’s materials, but he could not conclusively say whether they had been used intentionally to start a fire. John also stated that a few months previously, a similar fire had broken out in Scott’s bed caused by smoking.

John added that he did not believe his brother was suicidal, although he could be ‘argumentative and confrontational’.

Detective Superintendent Wayne Fox also gave evidence, and confirmed that North Yorkshire Police had investigated the incident as a homicide. He admitted that a motive was unlikely to be established, but said that the fire was considered suspicious because it was multi-seated, which pointed towards a ‘deliberate act’. Detective Superintendent Fox said his opinion had remained the same since the fire.

However, Mr Leach rejected conclusions of either unlawful killing or manslaughter, saying he could ‘not be satisfied’ there was intent and that Scott waking his brother for assistance suggested the ignition was accidental.

He recorded conclusions of accidental death for both Muriel and Scott Sim.