THE father of a former Oxford University press officer who died from carbon monoxide poisoning has set up an e-petition for compulsory alarms.

Katie Haines died aged 31, a month after returning from her honeymoon in 2010 when carbon monoxide from a faulty boiler led to her drowning in a bath at her home in Berkshire.

Gordon Samuel, Mrs Haines’s father, is now calling on the Government to ensure carbon monoxide alarms are fitted with carbon burning appliances.

The petition needs 100,000 signatures for it to be discussed in the House of Commons, and at present has just over 800 names.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is colourless and has no taste or smell, making it difficult to detect. Around 40 people each year die from accidental CO poisoning in England and Wales, and around 4,000 people are admitted to hospital with symptoms that could lead to brain damage and strokes, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

Only around 15 per cent of homes have CO alarms, according to the Council for Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring.



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