A BLAZE victim living in a Widnes bedsit above a disco may have had "precious minutes" to escape if a fire alarm system had not been disconnected, a court heard.

The system appeared to have been deliberately switched off because it had previously interfered with the disco, Warrington Crown Court was told last Thursday.

Landlord Ronald Martindale, 42, of Lugsdale Road, pleaded guilty to four offences of contravening fire certificate regulations at the premises in Victoria Road and was sentenced to 140 hours' community service.

Judge Steven Clarke said that, if there had been any evidence to show Martindale had been responsible for disconnecting the system, he would have gone straight to prison.

But, as it was, he had nothing to gain as he was actually barred from the premises following an acrimonious divorce from his wife and the building was not insured.

He "lost everything" as the building was not insured and the man who died in the fire, Christopher Farrell, was a friend.

Martindale was now an undischarged bankrupt with debts totalling more than £100,000.

Sailesh Mehta, prosecuting, said Martindale was responsible for the fire certificate relating to Cleo's wine bar and disco in Victoria Road and the bedsit premises above it.

During the early hours of December 28 1996, a fire broke out, believed to have been started accidentally by a resident who fell asleep next to an electric fire, allowing a plaster cast on his leg to catch fire.

As he ran to the bathroom to put out the flames, the fire took hold in his bedroom.

Firefighters, who arrived at the scene within five minutes, successfully rescued several people who had been trapped on the second floor of the building by dense smoke.

But Mr Farrell was found slumped across a settee at the top of the stairs.

Attempts to revive him failed.

Investigations revealed the fire alarm system which covered the wine bar and disco and the bedsits above had been switched off.

A back-up battery had also been disconnected.

There was no evidence to prove who was responsible, although Martindale, as landlord, was ultimately responsible for ensuring the system operated properly.

The settee on the landing and a fire door propped open with a fire extinguisher also contravened fire regulations and no records had been kept of staff training in emergency procedures, added Mr Mehta.

Neil Flewitt, defending, said his client's former wife had been licensee of the wine bar and, following an acrimonious divorce, Martindale had not been allowed in the premises during opening hours.

He said: "There had been problems with the disco being cut off by the fire alarm system and an engineer had been out to rectify the problem.

"One can only assume someone interfered with the alarms so it wouldn't interfere with the disco.

"When my client left the premises the previous day he would have noticed if the alarm system had been disconnected.

"He is very distressed by what happened because he not only lost his business but also a friend," added Mr Flewitt.

Judge Clark said "precious minutes" had been lost by the failure of the fire alarm system.

He told Martindale: "Although the system was clearly disconnected by someone else and you were unaware of this, you bare the ultimate responsibility.

"People lost precious minutes.

"This man had got to the top of the stairs.

"If the alarm had been working, we may have been spared this tragedy."

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