Family of London man killed by carbon monoxide call for detectors in every UK home
27-year-old Elliot Bourne died in 2021 after falling asleep next to a fire.
"He was the sort of person that had the amazing ability to make people feel at ease. He was almost generous to a fault and would give his last penny to anyone".
That's how 27-year-old Elliot Bourne from Sidcup, South East London is described by his sister Jennifer.
Elliot died in 2021 after he fell asleep in the front room of a private home next to an open fire which, unknown to him, was releasing carbon monoxide.
Jennifer is launching a campaign calling for carbon monoxide alarms to become a legal requirement in UK homes. Often, these alarms are the only way to know if a home has a carbon monoxide leak.
"It's called the silent killer for a reason. You cant see it, you cant smell it, you cant taste it. Going through with this campaigning, I've realised people just don't understand the dangers.
"As we go into winter, with people putting on their heating, open fires, log burners, people aren't aware that these things can put out carbon monoxide and maybe not have them serviced".
Jennifer and her family have launched the petition for their campaign on what would have been Elliot's 32nd birthday.
Cases doubled since pandemic
New figures show the number of cases of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning have doubled since 2020, with over 10,000 incidents recorded just this year.
The cost of a carbon monoxide detector can be as little as £20, but still many homes are without them.
Jennifer told us "About 40% of UK homes still don't have a carbon monoxide detector. With Elliot's case, he fell into a loophole. Because he was found inside a private home, that had no legal requirement for them to have a detector.
"There's a lot of houses out there that still run that risk and have no idea of the danger they are in".
The petition for the campaign can be found here.