Security camera footage of the moment a fire which would go on to claim the lives of two men was discovered has been played to an inquiry. Simon Midgley, 32, and his partner Richard Dyson, 38, from London, died following the blaze at the five-star Cameron House Hotel near Balloch on the banks of Loch Lomond, in December 2017.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths is being held at Paisley Sheriff Court. On Tuesday, the inquiry was shown security camera footage of the moment night porter Christopher O’Malley opened the concierge cupboard in the morning of December 18 that year to discover flames and smoke spewing out of the small room just off the reception area.
Darren Robinson, the hotel’s night manager at the time, was giving evidence to the court and was shown footage of O’Malley filling a black plastic bag with ashes and putting it into the cupboard, which also stored kindling for the nearby fire. In one part of the footage, O’Malley put the ashes in as he was talking to another hotel employee.
