Inquest finds death of grandmother in house blast accidental
Doreen Mace died on June 26 at the property in Kingstanding.
Last updated 17th Jan 2023
An inquest has found that the death of a 79 year-old great-grandmother was accidental following a house explosion in Birmingham last June.
The inquest heard an old and faulty gas pipe had become separated after potentially not being joined properly when installed.
Doreen Mace was at the property on Dulwich Road in Kingstanding, owned by her partner David Murphy, when the house exploded on June 26.
The coroner described the explosion as a "Hollywood film-esque level of destruction".
It emerged that Mr Murphy had reported smelling gas to the UK gas distribution network Cadent at 8:22pm that Sunday night.
Also, he mentioned that his gas hob was no longer working and the meter was "making a noise".
He was told by the call handler not to use a source of ignition and ventilate the house, with an engineer arriving within the hour.
Less than 15 minutes later after the call ended, the house exploded.
Numerous 999 calls were made - the first at 8:39pm - by neighbours, who told call handlers they heard a "huge bang" and that 129 Dulwich Road had been "flattened" and was "completely missing".
The court also heard how the blast sent roof tiles through the window of the leisure centre 35 metres opposite the house, while a small fire grew.
The search for Doreen Mace was called off for safety reasons, Mr Murphy was rescued at the rear of the property by a mattress by members of the public. He had sustained "significant injuries".
Doreen's body was found under one metre of rubble from the lounge at the front of the property.
It was agreed by multi-agency investigators "the explosion was caused by natural gas escaping from a pipe underneath the lounge floor".
The coroner also heard how the flooring in the lounge was "bowing" because some of the joists were "rotting".
The property, originally owned by Birmingham City Council was nearly 100 years old, with the inquest hearing how the boiler was not working when the blast took place.
Mr Murphy had put the property up for sale, which recorded the problem with the floorboards and the boiler not working.
The coroner, Jack Bennett, said the "best estimate" was that the pipe "had been there for at least 50 years, but cannot exclude the possibility it was original pipework when the house was built in or before 1928".
Doreen's relatives at the hearing on Monday described her as a "once-in-a-lifetime soul".
Her granddaughter, Samantha O'Brien read out a pen portrait calling her grandmother "a caring, energetic and fun-loving lady with such an infectious smile, who was devoted to her family".
The inquest has closed.