As we were going to press yesterday (Thursday), the coroner for Pembrokeshire, Mr. Michael Howells, was beginning inquest hearings into the deaths of two residents who succumbed as the result of a fire at a local residential care home last February. The extensive fire - as the result of which the other residents had to be evacuated from the premises - occurred at the Old Rectory, Gumfreston, on Thursday, February 5. The sad fatalities included 85-year-old Nellie Mae Walsh, whose medical cause of death was given as inhalation of smoke and toxic gases. Albert Henry John Thomas, aged 89, died three days later from bronchial pneumonia after being exposed to the same hot gases and smoke. The inquest hearing, taking place at Milford Haven Town Hall, is expected to be concluded today (Friday).
