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.
Christopher O Malley (centre) arrives at Dumbarton Sheriff Court for sentencing on Friday A NIGHT porter who caused the fire that killed two men at the luxury Cameron House Hotel has been spared a prison sentence. At Dumbarton Sheriff Court today, Sheriff William Gallacher ordered Christopher O Malley to carry out a community-based punishment instead. The 35-year-old, from Renton, was placed on a community payback order (CPO) as a direct alternative to a jail term. He will be supervised by social workers for 18 months, and must carry out 300 hours of unpaid community work – the maximum allowed under the law – by January 2022. Simon Midgley, 32, and Richard Dyson, 38, died from smoke inhalation and fire gases on the morning of December 18, 2017.
Cameron House night porter given community service for causing fatal fire that killed two after putting bag of ashes in hotel cupboard
Christopher O Malley admitted causing the blaze by placing ash inside a plastic bag and putting it inside a cupboard.
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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.
Two men died and Cameron House was badly damaged by the fire on December 17, 2017. Photos courtesy Crown Office CAMERON House has apologised for its failings that led to the fire deaths of two men. The high-end hotel, which had a turnover of more than £40million while they ignored repeated safety warnings about keeping kindling and newspapers in a cupboard off the lobby, was fined £500,000 today at Dumbarton Sheriff Court. Nobody from the hotel was present in court for sentencing after the company pleaded guilty. A night porter who they failed to train and for whom they offered no written procedures for emptying ash from open fireplaces, was sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid work for putting ash in a plastic bag in that cupboard.