Family of blast victim say 'key evidence lost'

THE family of a man who died after an explosion took place at his home have said they feel "massive mistakes" were made and "key evidence lost" after 60 tonnes of rubble from the decimated property was removed and not preserved for examination.

- ROBERT DALLING

Brian Lyn Davies' body was discovered among the rubble at his home address of 159 Clydach Road, Morriston, Swansea, on Monday, March 13, 2023.

The retired builder, who was aged 68, had been unaccounted for for several hours.

An inquest is being held at Swansea's Guildhall into his death and is anticipated to go on for up to six days.

Previous stages of the inquest heard rubble was removed from the scene by Swansea council staff operating a JCB as efforts were made to find Mr Davies.

But 60 tonnes of the rubble, described as “potential evidence” were taken to a baling plant at a recycling centre and not preserved.

A gas pipe excavated at the scene was found to be fractured in places, with the biggest crack being four to eight millimetres, along with smaller cracks.

A central question in the inquest is whether the cracks in the gas pipe had formed before the explosion, or afterwards during the excavation process.