Coroner rules 'accidental death' after five Cornish people died from 'inherently defective' gas cookers
The coroner found failings from Beko but they was not deemed unlawful.
Last updated 23rd Nov 2020
Britain's number one-selling appliance brand committed "serious errors'' when it failed to take prompt action to halt the sale of "inherently defective'' gas cookers, a coroner has found.
Assistant Cornwall Coroner Geraint Williams said Beko Plc had failed to tell trading standards of the extent of the problem, had failed to investigate concerns linked to two other deaths, and was too slow in withdrawing cookers from sale and contacting people who had already bought them.
He made his comments in recording his conclusions at inquests into the deaths of Richard Smith, 30, and Kevin Branton, 34, and husband and wife John, 90, and Audrey Cook, 86, and their daughter Maureen, 47, who all succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Mr Smith and his friend were discovered deceased in the home they shared in Saltash in November 2010, while the Cook family were found dead inside their static caravan in Camborne in February 2013.
They all died after accidentally turning on the grill, as uncooked food was found in the oven and their deaths were recorded as an accident.
The household appliances were manufactured in Turkey by Arcelik and have been linked to 18 deaths in the UK and Ireland from carbon monoxide poisoning.
A total of 60,000 Arcelik cookers were affected by the design fault and half were sold in the UK under its Beko brand and the rest by Glen Dimplex.
The inquest heard evidence that Beko, which is Britain's number one-selling appliance brand, knew the cookers posed a "serious risk'' to health but ignored the problem for several weeks.
Trading standards was only told of Alexis Landry's death in Cork in January 2009, and it was the following month before the watchdog learned of other fatalities.
Beko was first told by the Irish authorities in November 2008 of the death of Mr Landry earlier that month after using a Glen Dimplex cooker.
Arcelik then carried out tests on all its cookers and provided Beko with a list of models that produced excessive carbon monoxide.
In December, the firm learned a coroner was investigating the deaths of pensioners Boris and Vilma Green in Doncaster, two weeks after that of Mr Landry.
"Given that the contact was known to be at the behest of a coroner dealing with a fatality, I find as a fact the failure to pursue it by Beko was a serious error.
"It is in my opinion undoubtedly the case that an inquiry by Beko would have generated a follow-up call and more details would have been made available.
"Despite the knowledge of the telephone call on December 1 that Mr Landry's death was now not the only fatality, Beko failed to bring this to the attention of (inspection firm) Intertek or trading standards.
"This also was a serious failing because it meant those two organisations were making decisions based on incomplete information.''
Assistant Cornwall Coroner Geraint Williams
Mr Williams said Beko was told of the extent of the problems with the cookers in Ireland and knew it sold similar models in the UK.
"I was not given an explanation as to why Beko did not, as soon as those results were known, bring them to the attention of Intertek and trading standards.
"In my judgment they had a duty to do so and the failure to do so was a serious one, meaning the two organisations who should have been closely involved were kept in the dark.
"I find as a fact that was a serious failing on the part of Beko. I do accept that Beko began to consider modifying its existing stock of cookers in the way anticipated in Ireland.''
Mr Williams
In lengthy findings, Mr Williams said that Beko had learnt by December 1 that Mr Landry's death was not isolated and by December 22 had test results from Ireland and Arcelik's own investigations.
"I find as a fact it must have been clearly apparent that there was a significant number of inherently dangerous cookers in the hands of the public and no consideration was given to addressing that issue before the end of December 2008.
"I find as a fact that there was a delay. The importance of this issue to the Smith family is obvious.''
Mr Williams
Mr Smith's father, Brian, had bought the Beko cooker for his son on December 31 2008.
"I can go no further than to say, than it is possible, that these things would have happened, that the failure of Beko to act more promptly certainly amounted to a lost opportunity to prevent the cooker being sold to Mr Smith."
Mr Williams
In a statement, the families of Mr Smith and Mr Branton said:
"It has taken 10 years to get the answers we have needed into the reasons why Kevin and Richard died.
"It has been a long and difficult wait for our family. There were clear failings on the part of Beko Plc. We hope recommendations will be made so that this type of tragedy never happens again.''
Thomas Jervis, of law firm Leigh Day, represented the families involved and said he hoped changes would be made.
"We hope that the evidence that has been given at this inquest will signal a change in attitude to customer safety by the manufacturers of domestic products."
Thomas Jervis
"Our sympathies remain with the Branton, Smith and Cook families.
"Since these tragic incidents, we've continued to raise our safety standards and the testing processes our products go through have become even more robust and stringent.
"We also collaborated with the industry to get the UK and EU gas safety standards changed in 2009. The new standard helps prevent a similar tragic event from happening again.''
Spokeswoman, Beko Plc