A WREXHAM man made desperate attempts to save his partner from a house fire before becoming overcome by smoke, an inquest has been told.

Alison ‘Ali’ Jane Edwards, 41, was found unresponsive in the living room of the home she shared with her partner Mark Hammond in the early hours of Sunday, November 18.

Despite several successful attempts to resuscitate her, Miss Edwards died as a result of severe smoke inhalation at Wrexham Maelor Hospital later that evening.

Mr Hammond described how he woke up in the early hours of the morning at the house in Gwynant, Plas Madoc, because he could not breathe and tried to get to Miss Edwards, who regularly fell asleep in the living room listening to music.

But despite leaving the property to catch his breath and re-entering on more than one occasion, he could not reach her.

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Joanne Lees, assistant coroner for North East Wales, had earlier told the hearing at Wrexham Guildhall that a neighbour had been alerted to the sounds of an alarm and a woman screaming shortly before 1am.

And when the neighbour looked out of his bedroom window, he saw thick black smoke coming from the rear of Miss Edwards’ property.

Alfred Edwards, Miss Edwards’ father, who lived next door to the couple, was awoken by the neighbour and they made efforts to gain access amid thick black smoke.

Mr Edwards told the hearing that just before firefighters arrived he could hear his daughter shouting out to him.

In a statement provided to the inquest, Mr Edwards told how his very hard-working daughter had left school at the age of 16 to work in retail, later spending time working in the warehouse for Wrexham-based charity Nightingale House hospice.

He said the pair were “very close” and saw each other every day.

Station manager Bob Mason, a senior fire investigation officer with North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, attended the scene of the fire shortly after 2am and took statements from fire officers.

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They all described how Miss Edwards had been found unresponsive in the living room before she was resuscitated and taken to hospital.

“It was clear the fire was centred on the kitchen as it was the only room on the ground floor of the property that had been damaged by fire,” he said.

Mr Mason added there were three fridges in the kitchen – a fridge freezer of about 4ft tall, an under the counter fridge about 3ft tall and what he described as “a beer fridge” sitting on the unit directly above.

Following a thorough investigation Mr Mason concluded that although his level of expertise meant he could not say how the fire started, it was clear it had originated underneath the fridge that was under the counter, which was where the electric motor and compressor were located.

Mr Mason had ruled out the fire starting as a result of kitchen electrical wiring on the basis of a statement provided by Wrexham Council which said both the bathroom and kitchen had been rewired in 2015, with no household faults being reported to them since August 2016, when a front door lock had been broken but repaired the same day.

Recording a conclusion of accidental death, Mrs Lees said: “Nobody or anybody was responsible for what happened and sadly Alison was unable to survive her injuries.”

Mr Hammond said: “Ali was a brilliant family person who was well liked by everyone and is very sadly missed.”