Smoke inhalation cause of death

The Coroner, Miss Anderson, found the death of Wayne Stanley McKnight (29) of 8 Larchwood Mews, was due to smoke inhalation as a result of the fire at his home on Sunday, December 29, 2008.

The mostly likely cause of the early morning blaze, she found, involved “cooking activity” on the kitchen hob.

During the inquest it was made clear police attached no suspicion to Mr. McKnight’s brother, Gareth McKnight, with whom he had been drinking heavily for some hours prior to the fire, and who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and arson endangering life.

Police evidence to the inquest established that while Gareth McKnight’s demeanour at the time was deemed sufficiently suspicious to prompt his arrest, it was afterwards accepted his behaviour was that of a man obviously in shock, who had also had to be restrained during several attempts to re-enter the burning house in search of his brother.

In delivering her findings the Coroner said, “This case highlights quite effectively the importance of having a functioning smoke alarm and the danger of removing the batteries, for whatever reason.”

Earlier testimony had indicated that only one smoke alarm was found after the fire and there was no evidence of it having been fitted with batteries.

Three police constables testified, revealing that officers were tasked to attend Larchwood Mews at about 6am on Sunday, December 29, arriving, shortly before fire crews, to find what turned out to be Wayne McKnight’s house well ablaze and wreathed in black smoke.

They saw a man standing near the burning house; he said his brother was still inside the house, asleep. It was established that the man was Wayne McKnight’s brother Gareth (28), who, bleeding profusely from a laceration on his right forearm, was said to have smelled strongly of liquor, seemed intoxicated and appeared to be suffering from smoke inhalation.

After failed attempts to re-enter the house, Gareth McKnight made to leave the area, heading for Larchwood Avenue, with a police officer following.

An ambulance arrived but Mr. McKnight refused treatment, opting instead to himself apply a bandage to his arm before returning to the scene with a police officer upon being advised he was required to stay; he walked back towards the house, shouting “Where’s Wayne?”

The inquest heard police observed fire crew remove a lifeless body from the house, ambulance personnel indicating that the individual, subsequently identified as Wayne McKnight, was deceased. An attending doctor formally pronounced life extinct at 7.27am

Police officers, as directed by a superior, arrested Gareth KcKnight on suspicion of murder and arson endangering life.

He was taken to Craigavon Area Hospital for medical attention, then to Antrim Serious Crime Suite.

Police accepted at the inquest that while Gareth McKnight had been acting “suspiciously” at the time of the fire, it was understandable, due to the nature of the incident; asked if Gareth McKnight was obviously in shock, one officer replied, “absolutely”, also confirming there remained absolutely no suspicion he was involved in starting the fire.

Gareth McKnight himself told the inquest of his panicked escape from the house and his inability to see, or get any response from, his brother.

Three witness statements from neighbours were read into evidence, each indicating how they became alerted to the fire, one confirming he had brought the McKnight brothers a box of beer and stayed with them for a couple of hours before going home to bed, another reporting how Gareth McKnight was seen crawling barefoot out of the house on his hands and knees as the fire raged.

A firefighter among those to tackle the blaze testified that the signs indicated “a very, very intense fire” in the kitchen and living room areas; Wayne McKnight was found, he said, on the floor of a large, front, upstairs bedroom.

A forensic scientist who later examined the scene said the fire occurred in the vicinity of the kitchen hob and was probably accidental; while the fire could have been related to smoking materials found in the house, he said, it had most likely involved cooking activity.

In a statement read to the inquest, Northern Ireland’s Deputy State Pathologist noted that analysis of Wayne McKnight’s blood had shown the presence of carbon monoxide as well as alcohol, in a quantity three and a half times the drink-drive limit, and diazepam, in a quantity well within its therapeutic range.

In delivering her findings, Coroner, Miss Anderson, extended her sympathies to Wayne McKnight’s family, on what she called “the tragic death of a young man”.