Emma

Emma’s story

Emma, aged 24 years, lives alone  independently in housing association accommodation. Although Emma was independent in most areas of her life, she struggled with building and maintaining positive relationships due to her diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) which impacted upon certain areas of her life, including retaining work. 

This also made her vulnerable to criminal exploitation and she had reported a sexual assault to the police but the case was closed due to lack of evidence. Neighbours had reported that they suspected that her flat was used for drug dealing by men who visited her flat.  

Emma’s family made a referral to Adult Social Care as they were concerned about having developed a substance misuse problem, and that she was not looking after herself and would not let them in when they tried to visit. 

As a result of several calls from the family a social worker was allocated to Emma who attempted to visit her regularly, however at times she would not let her in even though it was clear that she was at home.  On one of the  visits the social worker noticed a large number of  aerosols canisters in her flat.

Two weeks after the social workers last visited the fire service was called to Emma’s property by a neighbour late in the evening, as they noticed fire coming from Emma’s living room window and heard explosions.

The fire service attended, forced entry and put the fire out, however tragically Emma was found unresponsive in her bed with severe burns and was later pronounced dead at the scene. 

The fire investigation found that the cause of the fire was candles that had been left unattended, and she had previously told the social worker that she could not afford to keep the flat warm.

The unused aerosols canisters  contributed to the spread of the fire. It was later established the canisters were deodorant sprays which Emma used as she did not like bathing or showering. 

The investigation also found that the batteries in the domestic smoke alarm were not working.