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12th April 2023
05:37pm BST
Reclusive siblings who hoarded stacks of magazines started a fire at their home which killed them - the day before housing officials were due to visit, an inquest has been told.
Alan, 68, and Linda McGinty, 63, suffered smoke inhalation in the blaze in their terraced property in Bradford, West Yorkshire, which was locked from the inside.
A coroner on Wednesday said it was a "tragedy" that the siblings couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel despite offers of help, which they refused.
Bradford Coroner’s Court heard how the pair would generally only leave their home to go shopping.
But on 28 March last year, a neighbour noticed smoke coming from the property and attempted to wake the occupants, only to find the doors shuttered.
Alan and Linda were found unresponsive when fire services arrived at 6.33 am, and they were declared dead a short time later when resuscitation attempts failed.
Speaking about their deaths, assistant coroner Angela Carol Brocklehurst said the siblings felt they could see “no light at the end of the tunnel”.
She said: “This was a tragic event involving two lonely people who wanted to escape from the society around them.
“There were offers to help, but it is clear they wanted to refuse that.
“It is a tragedy that, in today’s society, there are people still in those circumstances.”
The court was told Alan and Linda lived in a “cluttered and untidy” house and were known to social services because of their hoarding.
A fire investigation report said “piles of items were stacked” in every room, although there were still clear pathways and it was possible to move around.
There were found to be two separate fires – one which had been started on a stack of magazines and newspapers by the back door and another on a mattress in a bedroom upstairs.
A bottle of lighter fluid, as well as some used matches, were also found in the property the inquest heard.
Several potential causes of the fire were considered – including the possibility that it may have been an accident or the result of an electrical fault – but all signs pointed to a “deliberate ignition”.
A detective inspector, giving evidence at the court said: “I am satisfied the fire was started by either one or both of the occupants.”
Both Alan and Linda were unemployed and single, and Brocklehurst said Alan had suffered psychiatric problems in his early life but was deemed to “have capacity” as recently as 2021.
She added that Linda had suspected agoraphobia – an irrational fear of leaving one’s home or being in crowded places – but was never diagnosed.
Brocklehurst also said that neither Alan nor Linda were known to local mental health services, and they both suffered from ulcers on their legs but did not appear to have much contact with their GPs.
Toxicology reports indicated that neither Alan nor Linda had been using drugs or alcohol prior to their death.
A detective inspector told the inquest that Alan and Linda “very much avoided people” and were “very rarely” seen outside.
But due to their hoarding, the siblings received visits from housing officers.
Sometimes they would be let in, other times they were not.
On one visit, Linda became “verbally aggressive” and either she or Alan threw water on a housing officer, the detective inspector added.
Housing group Incommunities had gone to get a court injunction to gain access to the property, and were due to attend the home the day after the fire, they said.
Alan and Linda had previously lived at the home with their mother, Doreen, until her death several years ago, the inquest heard.
There was no evidence of their father and it was not known if they had any other siblings.
Toxic levels of carbon monoxide were found in their blood and soot was “abundantly present” in their nostrils, mouths and upper airways.
Post-mortems confirmed that they both died from the effects of a house fire, most likely from the inhalation of smoke and hot fire gasses.
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