By Press Association 2021
Christopher O Malley
A hotel porter who placed a bag of ashes in a cupboard, sparking a fatal fire, has been sentenced.
Two men died in the blaze at the five-star Cameron House Hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond on December 18 2017.
Christopher O’Malley, 35, admitted breaching Sections 7(A) and 33(1)(A) of the Health and Safety at Work Act at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on December 14.
At the same court on Friday, he was sentenced to a community payback order, supervised for 18 months, comprising 300 hours of unpaid work.
More than 200 guests were evacuated from the building during the fire, including a family of two adults and a child who were rescued by ladder and taken to hospital. They were later discharged.
By Press Association 2021
Cameron House Hotel fire
A luxury hotel operator has been fined £500,000 and a night porter given a community payback order over a fire which claimed the lives of two guests.
Simon Midgley, 32, and Richard Dyson, 38, from London, died in the blaze at the five-star Cameron House Hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond on December 18, 2017.
Dumbarton Sheriff Court previously heard the fire started after night porter Christopher O’Malley emptied ash and embers from a fuel fire into a polythene bag and placed it in a cupboard which contained combustibles including kindling and newspapers.
Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Ltd, owner and operator of the hotel, admitted failing to take the fire safety measures necessary to ensure the safety of employees and guests between January 14 2016 and December 18 2017.
Dramatic footage shows the moment a devastating fire broke out in a five-star hotel before laying waste to the whole building and killing two guests.
CCTV captures staff trying to fight the flames in the reception of Cameron House Hotel on December 18, 2017 and comes as the night porter who caused the blaze was sentenced.
Christopher O Malley, 35, was spared jail but ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid work for accidentally starting the fire by emptying hot ash in a plastic bag into a cupboard full of newspaper.
Just three days earlier he had been told not to use the plastic bags and, in an August audit, fire experts had highlighted the combustibles inside the cupboard as a risk.
Submitting.
O’Malley admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on December 14 and he was sentenced on Friday to a community payback order to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work within 18 months.
Night porter Christopher O Malley. Pic: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
In his sentencing statement, sheriff William Gallacher said the fine for the hotel was reduced from £750,000 because its owners tendered an early guilty plea.
Sheriff Gallacher said: Your acts on December 18 caused a fire to start in a cupboard in Cameron House Hotel. The fire developed from that cupboard and spread to many parts of the building, which had to be evacuated.