Two cousins suffered facial burns when tabletop heater exploded into a fireball at pub after friend squirted it with ethanol, court hears
Two women suffered horrific facial burns when a heater exploded into a fireball after a friend squirted fuel onto it, a court has heard.
April Charlesworth, 31, is said to have been left with agonising injuries to her neck, hands and face while celebrating her 28th birthday at the Kings Head pub in Great Cornard, Suffolk.
The videographer had been at the pub with her cousin, Ashleigh Charlesworth, 32, and friends when Dale Carter allegedly squirted the flammable liquid on a tabletop heater.
Ashleigh, a former children's nurse, was taken to hospital with burns to her chest, face and hands and was put on a ventilator after her airway started to swell, jurors were told.
Carter, 30, a scaffolder from Colchester in Essex, denies two counts of assault causing grievous bodily harm.
Ipswich Crown Court heard the outing on April 24, 2021 was the cousins' first night out after the Covid lockdown and they were sitting at tables in the pub car park with the rest of their group.
It was a cold evening and April's brother, Sam, had gone to their mother's home nearby and returned with two heaters, jurors were told.
He initially tried to light a small gas camping stove but was unable to and friends told him to put it away as they could smell gas.
Mr Charlesworth then produced the liquid fuel heater and lit it using ethanol, although it was putting out little heat.
He claims to have put the bottle of fuel in a bag before briefly leaving the area where everyone was sitting.
April Charlesworth, 31, a videographer, in bandages after the alleged GBH incident, which Dale Carter, 30, denies
Ashleigh Charlesworth, 32, had to be put on a ventilator when she arrived at hospital
When he returned, he heard screaming and saw flames on the table and realised his sister and cousin were badly injured, the court was told.
Giving evidence, Mr Charlesworth claimed he'd warned Carter about having to be careful with the heater and fuel because of the danger of a fireball.
He said he had joked with the defendant about 'not setting anybody on fire' and claimed Carter had waved his hand through the flame twice and said he was 'Iron Man'.
Cross-examined by Michael Epstein, who is representing Carter, Mr Charlesworth denied leaving the bottle of ethanol on the table or that he was mistaken about his warning to the defendant about being careful with the heater and fuel.
Witness Mark Lawrence, who was April’s boyfriend at the time, described how his friend Carter splashed fuel on the heater from a bottle on the table, causing a flame to flash out.
The second time he did it, the flame was sucked into the bottle, causing it to explode and turn into 'a rocket', as well as setting light to the table.
Carter’s former girlfriend Sophie Brown said she had gone to the toilet as the flame from the heater was starting to die down, suggesting it was running out of fuel.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, she said that when she returned to the table, she saw Carter’s face had been burned and Ashleigh was ‘on the floor screaming’.
‘I asked him what happened, and he was in shock. He replied:, “I don’t know”… I could tell everyone was in shock,' she said.
‘The pub told me that he was passed the bottle to relight the flame. I can’t remember who told me.’
Describing the heater, she said: ‘The only thing we all said was that it didn’t produce much heat so it was pointless to be there.’
Ms Brown said that Carter had needed hospital treatment and been ‘broken’ after the incident.
She added: ‘He didn’t want to go out. He was very sad and down and obviously in pain.’
Danny Wheeler, another witness, said that on the second occasion Carter squirted fuel on the heater the lid and end of the bottle were blown off, resulting in a fire which set light to Carter's hair and people's clothes.
Dale Carter, 30, denies two offences of inflicting grievous bodily harm
Cousins Ashleigh (left) and April Charlesworth were at a pub with friends
April, 31, was left with agonising injuries to her neck, hands and face
Videographer April, seen wearing a compression mask following the burn injuries
April, in a photo taken before the incident at the pub
Ashleigh was working as a nurse but has been forced to become a clinician for the NHS 111 service due to her injuries, the court heard
Rebecca Robertson, who was also in the group, was standing around 15ft away when she became ‘aware of a commotion coming from the table’ before she heard ‘cheering and screaming’.
She said: ‘I looked over and saw Dale standing between the two benches. I saw a tall flame in front of Dale.
'One of the girls had flames to her face and hands. I saw her fall to the floor and roll over to try and put out the flames.’
Ms Robertson said she went to help Ashleigh, who was screaming: 'Help me, help me.'
She added: 'She tried to take hold of my hand and I could see her hand was badly burned. She started calling for her Dad and her phone.
‘Members of staff came out with jugs of water to pour all over the burn injuries.’
Ms Robertson then went to find April inside the pub and found her ‘completely stunned’ and ‘in an extreme state of shock.’
She later recalled seeing Carter on an ambulance stretcher, saying: ‘Oh Becky. They will all hate me, tell them I’m sorry.’
The alleged incident happened at The Kings Head pub in Great Cornard, Suffolk
Carter has suggested he was trying to reignite the heater as it was running low on fuel, the court heard today. He also suffered burns to his hair and face.
On-call firefighter Matthew Walker, who went to the pub, told how he gave first aid to the defendant, placing his face in a wet bandage mask, while paramedics helped the two women.
In a statement read to the court, he said: ‘He seemed inebriated but was coherent and not slurring his words.
‘He was worried that he would be blamed for what had happened and said he had put something on the fire. He said that Danny had told him to put it on the fire.’
During his questioning of witnesses, Mr Epstein acknowledged the horror of the incident but described it as a 'freak accident'.
Ashleigh was working as a nurse but has been forced to become a clinician for the NHS 111 service due to her injuries, the court heard.
April, a mother-of-one, said previously: 'It was difficult to readjust to normal life. It still is.
'I still don't like going out by myself, it completely changed me as a person even now.
'It's ok to have bad days, I still have bad days. It's important to accept hard times - it does get better.'
The trial continues.
