Cameron House fire deaths inquiry U-turn

Richard Dyson, left, and Simon Midgley, who both died, had been on a winter break in Scotland

A fatal accident inquiry will be held into the Cameron House fire which killed two men after the mother of one of them called for wider lessons to be learned.

Richard Dyson and his partner Simon Midgley died in a fire at the luxury hotel by Loch Lomond in December 2017.

The Crown Office had said an FAI was not needed because the circumstances of their deaths had been established.

A review of that decision has now overturned it.

It emerged during a prosecution case against Cameron House that the blaze started after a night porter placed a plastic bag of ashes in the concierge cupboard which contained kindling and newspapers.

Aerial photographs show the extent of the damage to Cameron House

In January, Cameron House was fined £500,000 after admitting breaches of fire safety rules, while the porter was given a community payback order for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.

In April, the Crown Office said the purpose of a fatal accident inquiry was to determine the cause of death and to establish what lessons could be learned.

It added that it was "satisfied" the reasons for the tragedy had been established.

• Fire death mum says she will fight for 'justice'

The family of Mr Midgley exercised their right to ask for a review of the decision.

Jane Midgley told the BBC her life had been "destroyed" by the deaths of "her boys", who lived in North London but were visiting the hotel on a pre-Christmas break.

Jane Midgely said her life had been "destroyed" by her son's death

Ms Midgley said: "No prison sentence, no fine would ever justify what's happened, so all I've got to do now is fight for this fatal accident inquiry and make it safer for everybody else."

Now an independent Crown Office review has decided that a fatal accident inquiry should be held.

It is a type of court hearing which publicly inquires into the circumstances of a death, presided over by a Sheriff and normally be held in the Sheriff Court.

They are routinely held if the death has happened as a result of an accident at work or if the death happened while in legal custody - for example in prison or police custody.

But they can also be held in other circumstances, if prosecutors believe it would be in the public interest to hold an inquiry.

Wider public interest issues

The review into the decision not to hold an inquiry was carried out by Crown Counsel with no previous involvement in the original decision-making process.

A Crown Office spokesman said the fire had caused two deaths and put the lives of many other people at risk.

He said that although meaningful changes had been made and lessons had been learned over what had already been presented in court, there were further issues which could be addressed in an inquiry.

"There are wider public interest issues around the safety of guests and building fire safety which ought to feature in a fatal accident inquiry," he said.

The spokesman continued: "The procurator fiscal has now started work to initiate this inquiry and there are a number of legal steps which must be taken before it can commence.

"The detailed work carried out in the preparation of the prosecutions will be invaluable in this process.

"The families will be kept informed of what will happen next."