Gas fire caused death

A LANDLORD was fined pounds 200 yesterday after a 19-year-old undergraduate was killed by poisonous fumes from a gas heater that had not been serviced for 20 years.

The body of 19-year-old Clare Watkinson was found at the house she shared with Aston University students in Washwood Heath Road, Ward End, Birmingham. Birmingham magistrates' court was told that 20lbs of soot and debris were found in the flue behind a gas fire.

Kenneth Deakin, 53, of Sladefield Road, Alum Rock, Birmingham admitted failing to properly maintain a gas fire at the house in Washwood Heath Road Ms Watkinson rented.