Couple handed £350,000 court bill after dodgy freezer burnt down their neighbour's house

A couple have been hit with a £350,000 court bill after dodgy DIY wiring to a freezer in their shed caused a fire which burned their neighbour's house down.

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A judge has ruled that Turney and Sue Logan are liable for the blaze which destroyed both their own home and that of neighbour Christopher Stanley-Smith in 2018, because they never asked an electrician to check over an amateur wiring job done by Mrs Logan's ex partner more than a decade earlier.

The two terraced houses in Barnarce in Calder Vale, near Preston, were effectively destroyed by the fire, which investigators said could have been caused either by a carelessly discarded cigarette end or an electrical fault relating to wiring leading to a freezer in one of the couple's garden sheds.

Eight fire engines, 40 firefighters, ladder teams and an air support unit worked for hours to bring the blaze under control.