Judge's verdict: 'The wiring was at fault and the couple must shoulder the blame for what happened as they never had the extension lead professionally checked'

Judge Stephen Davies has ruled that the wiring was at fault and that the couple must shoulder the blame for what happened as they never had the extension lead checked.

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Turney and Sue Logan have been found liable for the blaze destroying both their home and that of neighbour Christopher Stanley-Smith in Barnacre

He said that in 2005 Mrs Logan had given her ex permission "to provide an electrical supply to the rear shed" but that he was "an office worker rather than an electrician or builder."

He said: "What he decided to do and what he did was...to drill a hole in the rear wall...obtain...a domestic grade extension lead for internal use with a four socket end... remove the plug from the cable, draw the cable through the hole, to reconnect and connect the plug to an existing electricity socket located at low level...to run the cable...so that it entered the shed where the plug of the fridge could then be connected to the cable so as to provide an electrical supply for it to be used.

"On their evidence, neither Mrs Logan from the start nor Mr Logan when he moved in gave the question of whether the cable constituted a safety risk any real thought. Mrs Logan appears to have regarded it as something... which had never caused a problem and which she had continued to use for her freezer because it was convenient and was there.

"She accepted in cross-examination that she knew that electrics presented a danger if incorrectly installed and used, not just because of the risk of electrocution but because of the risk of fire, which is why she would always have used an electrician to undertake any electrical works.