A Suffolk gas engineer has been given a suspended sentence after carbon monoxide fumes from an incorrectly serviced gas-fired heater left a tenant unconscious.

Greg Ranson, trading as Ranson Plumbing and Heating Ltd, was also ordered to pay compensation totalling £1,500 to three victims, as well as costs of £813.

Mr Ranson had been hired to service a gas-fired warm air heater at a ground-floor flat in Sproughton in April 2013 before William Tumilty, 59, moved in in May, Ipswich Magistrates' Court heard.

As the weather was mild, the heating system was not turned on until November 2013. However, once the heater was operating Mr Tumilty immediately fell ill, and did so again when the heating was used the next day.

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On the third day, the heating came on automatically at 4.00pm and at about 7.00pm Mr Tumilty collapsed unconscious in the hallway. He regained consciousness at 7.45 am the next day. Hospital tests confirmed he had been poisoned by carbon monoxide.

The occupants of a maisonette directly above the flat were also affected by the potentially lethal fumes and required hospital treatment.

HSE's investigation established that the source of the carbon monoxide was the gas-fired heater. Examination revealed the heat exchanger assembly had been blocked by a fine dust which was preventing the harmful by-products of combustion escaping safely up the flue. The heat exchanger should have been inspected and cleaned during the service undertaken by Mr Ranson but did not appear to have been cleaned for several years.

(CD/MH)