Woman who tried to give up smoking died in house fire, inquest told

A lady who had given up smoking but was unable to stay off cigarettes died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a house fire.

Hilary Conway, who lived alone at Malpas Place, Dublin 8, was found in a back room in her smoke filled house on May 17th 2015. The fire was caused by smoking, according to gardaí.

Dublin Coroner's Court heard the woman's home was in a severe state of disrepair, with extensive damage to the roof of the bathroom. She appeared to live in just one room, where she used an electric two ring cooker, scenes of crime investigator Garda Stephen Kenny told the court.

“Where she was found, she tended to live wholly in that room. There was evidence of a smouldering fire and the seat of the fire appeared to be a coffee table. There was structural damage to the bathroom. The stairs was in bad repair,” Garda Kenny said.

There was extensive smoke damage to the house but only a small amount of fire damage. Ms Conway was found slumped in an armchair near the coffee table. The fire was most likely started by a lighted match or cigarette, the garda said.

“The fire started with a cigarette the woman had in the downstairs room,” Garda Kenny said.

Doctors reports read out in court noted that Ms Conway, originally from Guernsey, had tried to give up smoking and had been successful for seven months, only to begin smoking again.

A postmortem examination found the cause of death was asphyxia due to carbon monoxide inhalation due to a house fire. The woman had a level of 46 per cent carbon monoxide in her system, while the average is 1 per cent or 5 per cent for a smoker, the coroner said.

The pathologist included smoking as a contributory factor in the woman's death. Coroner Dr Crona Gallagher returned a verdict of death by misadventure.