Tragic tot killed by plug
A TODDLER was electrocuted after workmen allegedly left a plug with exposed wires on a couch in his home, an inquiry heard yesterday.
Claire Hughes discovered her 21-month-old son Liam Boyle lifeless on the floor of his toy room on February 28, 2009.
The 32-year-old frantically gave her son mouth-to-mouth, but he never recovered and died in hospital later that day.
It is alleged that Liam picked up the plug after it was left behind by a handyman who had fitted a new oven at their family home in Hillington, Glasgow.
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The child is thought to have plugged the plug into a socket in his toy room and then touched the wires, electrocuting himself.
A fatal accident inquiry at Glasgow Sheriff Court heard a statement from depute fiscal Maureen McGovern on behalf of Miss Hughes.
It is alleged that Liam picked up the plug after it was left behind by a handyman.
In it Miss Hughes told how 68-year-old handyman Daniel Rough and his assistant Simon Burns came to fit the new oven.
The inquiry was told that Miss Hughes recalled seeing a plug on a couch before the workmen left but did not realise that wires were exposed and never saw Liam handling it.
Miss Hughes said that after the men left with her old oven she went back to the kitchen and started brushing up and could hear Liam in his toy room “singing and muttering away to himself”.
She later went into the toy room and discovered him lying on the floor, beside the power socket. Miss Hughes said: “He was lying just the way he normally sleeps, on his front with his bottom in the air.
“At first I thought he was sleeping.
She added: “I took a step forward; it was at this point I saw a spot of blood on the floor at Liam’s mouth.
“I was hysterical, Liam’s body felt lifeless. I gave him mouth to mouth.”
The mother-of-two said she thought she felt a breath but realised it was her own.
She added that the wait for an ambulance “seemed like an eternity”.
The inquiry heard that after being taken to Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital, Miss Hughes learned her son was dead. She said: “The only time that I remember that day was 12.12pm. I remember this vividly because this is when the doctor came and told me Liam was dead.”
Mr Rough, a retired handyman, told the inquiry he left the plug lying on the floor beside the old oven and denied putting it on a couch.
The inquiry heard how Mr Rough disconnected the plug from the new oven, in the living room, and left it lying beside the old oven.
He said the cable on the new oven was too short and he noticed this when he took the old oven out from the wall.
Mr Rough – who has no formal qualifications in electrical work – said he “assumed” his assistant had taken it away with the old oven.
The inquiry, before Sheriff Ian Miller, continues.
