Coroner issues warning on LPG heater dangers following the death of a Hampshire teenager
It happened in a holiday cottage in Scotland
Last updated 3rd Jun 2025
A coroner has warned of the dangers of gas heaters after a student died of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a damaged device used in the bathroom of a rental cottage in a remote area of Scotland.
Student Tom Hill, 18, from Hampshire, died while staying at Glenmark Cottage in the Angus area with the family of his girlfriend Charlotte Beard in October 2015.
Charlotte's father, Mark Beard, told an inquest held in Winchester that a carbon monoxide alarm in the kitchen had gone off on the evening of October 27 and he had switched off all appliances in that room and opened the windows.
He said he had not realised that the cause of the carbon monoxide leak was a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cabinet heater in the bathroom.
Mr Beard said: "One of my lifelong regrets is that I hadn't taken notice of the bathroom heater as seriously as I might have done.
"I didn't tell anyone to get out of the cottage, it didn't occur to me to ask people to get out."
Mr Beard said he was upstairs when he heard his daughter getting upset at being unable to get a response from Tom who was in the locked bathroom.
He said: "I just rushed downstairs to see what had happened as did my then-wife and son, and Charlotte was quite distraught at not getting any response from Tom."
Mr Beard said that his son then used a wood axe to break open the door and they found Tom by the bath which was still running and flowing into the overflow.
He added: "I lifted him to get him out of the house into the fresh air and at that time I instructed everyone to leave."
Mr Beard, an engineer, said there were no instructions or warnings attached to the cabinet heater, although there was a warning inside which was only visible when the canisters were replaced.
Tom's father Jerry Hill, who lived at the time in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, said he and wife Alison were informed of their son's death by a police officer who visited their home and they travelled to Dundee police station to identify his body.
He added: "It was awful, we felt like we were victims of crime, when something like that happens you are totally overwhelmed. It was pretty traumatic."
Describing his son, Mr Hill said: "He was very interested in nature and wildlife, and had a real understanding of how animals interacted and understanding of how ecosystems work.
"He didn't have a very long life but he made the most of it."
He added that his son had gained a scholarship to study aquaculture at Stirling University.
Coroner Jason Pegg said that a post-mortem examination found that Tom died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
He said that a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the LPG cabinet heater should not have been used in a room as small as the bathroom and which had no ventilation because the windows had been painted shut.
He added that damage to the heater was also a "crucial factor".
Mr Pegg said: "The primary feature from the HSE is the heater should not be used in such a confined place."
Mr Hill, who now lives in Salisbury, Wiltshire, told the hearing that the heater had only been inspected by a gas engineer just seven days prior to the fatal incident and the CO alarm had also gone off a week before.
Recording a conclusion of accidental death, the coroner said he would be preparing a preventing future deaths report about the lack of warnings on LPG heaters.
Mr Pegg said: "My concern is that in rental cottages and some tented properties, there are going to be heaters of this nature in rooms that are too small which does raise a concern for future deaths."
Owners of the cottage Burghill Farms and Piers Le Cheminant, who sub-let the property to holidaymakers, were prosecuted for health and safety breaches in 2021, with the farm being fined £120,000 and Le Cheminant being fined £2,000.
A fatal accident inquiry was also held in Scotland into Tom's death, the inquest heard.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Hill called for similar LPG heaters to be banned and for mandatory warnings and advice to be placed in rental properties.
He said: "We think people aren't really aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide and what to do when an alarm goes off."
Stephanie Trotter, president of the CO-Gas Safety charity which is supporting the family, called for the devices to be banned and for a public safety information campaign to be held on the dangers of carbon monoxide.