A woman whose two young sons died in a house fire told a court how she had hoped for a “fresh start” for her family when they first moved into the rented property.
Emma Taylor, whose lost sons Logan Taylor, three, and Jake Casey, two, broke down in tears as she told a jury that she was excited about moving into the home on Alder Street at Fartown.
She told the jury at Leeds Crown Court the family had been through a difficult time.
“It was a fresh start,” she said.
“We had gone through so much as a family. It (the Alder Street property) was somewhere to bring kids up properly.”
Ms Taylor was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of 51-year-old Kamal Bains, a property management company director who denies gross negligence manslaughter.
The prosecution say that Ms Taylor repeatedly asked Bains to fit smoke alarms at the property - “but he never did”.
Ms Taylor said the house was an “absolute dump” when they moved in and had problems including damp.
She told the court that she had several conversations with Bains about the lack of smoke alarms in the property.
Ms Taylor, under questioning from Tyrone Smith QC, who is representing Bains, denied removing smoke alarms from the Alder Street property and a previous address.
Mr Smith asked why she hadn’t herself put in a smoke alarm at the Alder Street property.
She said Bains “promised to have them fitted for me.”
Jamie Casey, the father of the boys and Ms Taylor’s partner, told the court that he had shouted and sworn at Bains after a roofer had carried out some work at the house and left behind a mess.
Mr Casey, who wiped away tears as he gave evidence, said: “I told him (Bains) the roofer didn’t clean the mess. I was shouting at him - you had better get the ****ing house sorted, I’m not living like a tramp.”
Mr Casey claimed that Bains said he would sort out issues with the house but hadn’t done so.
He said he had raised the issue of smoke alarms with Bains “numerous times”.
Mr Casey said: “He said he would sort it. I used to get angry with him; I would swear. He told me ‘don’t threaten me - you don’t know who I am.”
Prosecutor Allan Compton told the jury at the opening of the case that Bains was the “heart and soul” of the now defunct property management company Prime Property Estates (Yorkshire).
Mr Compton said: “He was responsible for an inexcusable failure to ensure that 256 Alder Street was equipped with working smoke alarms.
“It was a tragedy, we say, that was eminently avoidable.”
Mr Compton told the jury previous tenants at the property had also complained about a lack of alarms and one was told she needed to fit one herself.
He said Bains told police there were smoke alarms installed when the family moved in but fire investigators found no trace of any alarms.
The prosecutor said Bains would have been “fully aware” that new laws came into force in October 2015 which meant it was mandatory for smoke alarms to be fitted on all floors of rented properties.
Bains, of Stableford Gardens, Birkby, denies two counts of manslaughter and one offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
(Proceeding)
