THE parents of a little girl who died in a tragic house fire are fighting to clear her name after an inquest verdict stated that she had probably started the blaze herself playing with a cigarette lighter.

Sue and David Bowes say that the fire in a bedroom of their former home in Peckers Hill Road, Sutton, which claimed the life of their four-year-old daughter, Emma-Louise, was started by a faulty electric radio

And the couple, who have since separated because of the strain of their 10-month ordeal, also claim they failed to receive notice of the inquest date as it was sent to their former address, even though Sue had notified the authorities that she had moved to Frenchfield Street, Clock Face.

The fire started just after noon on Sunday, August 2, last year while Sue, who was nearly four months pregnant at the time, was downstairs making breakfast. David was out at work and Emma-Louise, who wasn't feeling well, was in her parents' bed watching TV.

Sue, who was alerted by a banging noise and her daughter shouting, told the Star: "I assumed Emma must be playing with a toy but when I went to check, I heard a crackling noise and found that sparks and flames were coming from the radio on the landing which was switched on at the wall but not playing. I was about to throw water over it when I realised how stupid that would be with the electric on, and then it just went up in flames."

Although she isn't quite sure what happened next, Sue remembers screaming for Emma-Louise to go to the window and then running outside to alert her neighbours who tried to get in and save the youngster only to be beaten back by the flames.

Emma-Louise was eventually brought out by the fire brigade and taken to Whiston Hospital but she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Sue says when the family left the hospital, she passed on a new address and phone number for details of the inquest to be forwarded to. So the couple were astonished to learn, the following January, that the inquest had been heard without their knowledge!

"Their excuse was that they sent notification to Peckers Hill Road instead of the new address, but what was the point of that? I had been due to give birth at the end of the month and they said they assumed I wasn't there because I had gone into labour, but no-one bothered to check." A spokesman for Whiston Hospital's Coroner's Office confirmed that notification had been sent out to the Peckers Hill Road address and added: "The incident is very regretfully due to a breakdown in communications as we still had Mr and Mrs Bowes' old address on her file. Although we always send notification of an inquest in advance, it is not standard practice to check whether a relative will be attending unless they are called as witnesses and Mrs Bowes was not."

However, when the Bowes' received the Coroner's report, they were devastated with the outcome. Sue said: "It said the fire brigade had made the assumption that Emma-Louise had been playing with one of David's cigarette lighters. It also said there was no sign of a radio, even though a report made at the scene after the fire clearly states that the remains of a 13-amp plug were still in the wall.

"In any case, the lighters David used were downstairs in a box on top of a seven-foot tall unit. I had to stand on a chair to get to it, yet they are trying to tell me that Emma went downstairs, stood on a chair to get a lighter, went back upstairs, started the fire and then went back down to put the lighter away before going back upstairs and shouting for help - that's just ridiculous."

A spokesman for Merseyside Fire Brigade said: "We are unable to comment on the coroner's decision but obviously, if Mrs Bowes decides to take the matter further, we will look at the situation."

With support from her parents and friends, Sue is now fighting the decision and is trying to get an independent forensic inspection of the house to back up her case.

She said: "These last few months have been the worst of my life. I almost lost the baby, but, thankfully, Robert was born a healthy 11Ib 4oz and is now 19 weeks old. However, the whole thing put such a big strain on our marriage that David and I have split up and we are now getting a divorce.

"My family and friends have been really good and I would also like to thank Ken Foulkes from the police and Craig, Sharon and Debbie from Whiston Hospital's A&E department who helped me in so many ways. My mum says I haven't given myself time to grieve over Emma's death and she's right. But I want to clear Emma's name and until I do, I just have to keep going."

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