Inquiry to be held into fatal Scottish care home fire

A fatal accident inquiry is to be held into the deaths of 14 people in a care home fire after a bid to prosecute its owners collapsed, it was announced today.

The inquiry will aim to ensure that those who lost loved ones in the fire in Uddingston in January 2004 “can know the full circumstances of the tragic incident” as soon as possible.

The move, announced by Solicitor General Frank Mulholland QC, comes after charges against the owners of Rosepark care home were dismissed earlier this week.

Fourteen residents died and four people were injured when a fire broke out in a downstairs cupboard in the care home on January 31 2004.

Thomas Balmer, his wife Anne and their son Alan had faced 17 charges relating to health and safety at work and fire precautions regulations breaches at the South Lanarkshire care home.

Lord Matthews dismissed the charges at the High Court in Glasgow following legal argument.

A statement from the Crown Office said it will not appeal that decision.

The Solicitor General said: “Throughout the history of this case, we have endeavoured to bring to criminal trial any organisation or individual against whom we considered there was sufficient evidence to prosecute in respect of this tragic incident.

“The decision not to appeal Lord Matthews’ decision and to proceed now with a fatal accident inquiry has been taken after careful consideration as to what is in the public interest.

“In particular, we have considered the stress and frustration caused to those who lost loved ones by an ongoing legal process which, so far, has been unable to provide them with any answers as to what happened.

“It is clear that difficulties would still require to be overcome in any appeals process and that it would take a significant length of time to complete.

“Given that it is now more than five years since the fire, and that an appeal would be likely to take a further 12 months to complete, Crown Counsel have decided that the public interest would be best served by ending the prosecution and moving forward to a fatal accident inquiry as soon as possible.”

The Balmers had previously been due to stand trial over alleged safety breaches at the home but a judge dismissed the charges over a legal technicality in 2007.

Prosecutors launched a legal challenge but in July 2008 the Appeal Court refused the Crown’s appeal against the decision.

A fresh indictment was then served on the Balmers last September.

Croftbank House Limited, formerly known as Balmer Care Homes Limited, also faced 14 charges which ran between April 16 1997 and October 11 2006.

These included breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and breaches of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 at Croftbank House, a residential care and nursing home in Uddingston.

It was announced today however that those charges were also dropped.

Mr Mulholland added: “In order that the fatal accident inquiry can proceed as quickly as possible and to prevent any potential complications in presenting evidence to the inquiry, it has been decided that the prosecution of Croftbank House Limited for offences not directly related to the fire will not proceed further and will be brought to an end now.”