The mother of a man who died in hotel fire says she “can’t just put a full stop and end it” following the inquiry ruling.
As reported by STV News, Jane Midgley said she would appeal the decision not to hold a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the fire at Cameron House hotel at Loch Lomond.
The fatal fire happened in December 2017 where Simon Midgley, 38, and his partner Richard Dyson, 32, died as a consequence of inhaling smoke and fire gases.
The Crown Counsel said there would be no fatal accident inquiry into the cause of the fire.
The decision was made following an investigation that led to two criminal convictions.
The hotel was fined £500,000 over safety failings that led to the fire, while a porter was given a community payback order.
‘Simon, I’m going to fight for you’
Ms Midgley told STV News a fatal accident inquiry was in the public interest.
She said: “I’m never going to get justice, but if we can save someone else’s life by having this fatal accident inquiry I’ll feel like I’ve done something.
“I’ve got to do something for the boys, I can’t just put a full stop and end it.
“I look at his photograph every day and I say ‘Simon, I’m going to fight for you’.
“(I’m determined) more than ever because I know if Simon was here, he would be saying ‘mum, you’ve got to fight, you’ve got to stop this happening again’.
“This (fire) could have been stopped and it wasn’t, they (Cameron House) just carried on and carried on and I don’t just want recommendations – not many people go on recommendations.
“Things have got to be put in law and businesses have got to realise they can’t get away with it through having other things to do.”
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “The FAI decision was communicated to the families of Richard Dyson and Simon Midgley at meetings and both families were advised of their rights to request a review of the decision.
“The family of Mr Midgley have indicated they will exercise their rights to ask for a review of the decision not to hold a fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson.
“Once that request has been received, the review will be conducted by Crown Counsel with no previous involvement in the matter.
“The families of Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson will be advised of the decision following the review.”
Lost for words
Ms Midgley also spoke out over the fine handed to the hotel’s owners.
She said: “They could have got fined £750,000 but because they pleaded guilty a couple of days before, the sheriff gave them a reduction of £250,000.
“As a mum, you’re never going to think you’ve got justice – so no fine, no jail sentence will ever be enough, but it just went from bad to worse – from all the failings to the individual just getting a community order, to Cameron House getting a fine but a massive reduction because they pleaded guilty.
“What about Simon and Richard? What about my Simon? (I’m) lost for words. Every time I read through the narratives, every time I think back to what happened in that court case, I can’t understand or I just think it’s all so unfair and it’s heartbreaking.
“I have so many questions and obviously now I’m not allowed to ask them until after the review of the fatal accident inquiry, but I think people need to know of all the failings, of everything, and I think people will be totally shocked.
“Any parent that has lost a son, or a daughter, or anybody in that kind of situation, would not be able to understand how they could get away with all these failings – and they were massive failings.”