Firefighter gives evidence at murder trial of Karen Vamplew, of Newark, at Leicester Crown Court

A court has been told of the dramatic moment fire crews attended a blaze that led to the death of an elderly woman in Newark.

Elizabeth Vamplew, 77, died from burns and smoke inhalation, after been rescued from her bungalow in Eton Court, Newark, on December 15, 2021.

Her daughter-in-law, Karen Vamplew, 43, of King Street, Newark, is on trial at Leicester Crown Court accused of murder after allegedly starting a fire deliberately to obtain money from her inheritance.

Karen claims the fire was caused by a lit cigarette, which ignited the bed in which Elizabeth Vamplew was sleeping.

The lead fire officer on the scene, crew manager Christopher Barber, told the court of the events that unfolded that night.

He said crews arrived at the scene at around 1.30am, upon which himself and another officer suited up and entered the building.

As team leader Christopher was first through the door and quickly established that the source of the fire was coming from the bedroom.

As soon as he stepped into the room, Christopher said: “We felt an intense heat and the smoke layer was about two foot from the floor.

“Above that we could not see anything in the room, it was basically pitch black.

“Under that there was a visible flame and we believed the bed was on fire.

Crouched on the floor at the foot of the bed the fire officers applied water to the flames to knock it back.

“I reached out to investigate with my arm,” said Christopher.

“Initially I thought I felt a cushion at first, but then realised it was a casualty [Elizabeth Vamplew].”

When asked if the casualty spoke, he replied “I believe she said ‘help me’.”

He dragged Elizabeth by the arms below the smoke layer and out of the building, before handing her over to paramedics and re-entering the building to extinguish the fire — Elizabeth was then taken to hospital where she died.

Karen Vamplew was present at the time of the rescue and told investigators that she made the 999 call after going to the property to check up on her mother, who was prone to falling.

In her timeline of events leading up to the fire on December 15, 2021, she said the pair had been out shopping in Newark the day before but returned home after Elizabeth became tired.

Later that evening carers visited Elizabeth, helping her to bed at roughly 5.45pm and left at 6.30pm.

At around 12.30am, CCTV footage close to Eton Avenue captured Karen initially walking towards Elizabeth’s bungalow and then running in the opposite direction a short time later.

Karen claims that she had gone to check up on her mother-in-law, but had to leave again as she did not have her key with her to enter — at this point she says there were no signs of fire.

Upon returning to the bungalow shortly after 1.20am and letting herself in, Karen told investigators that she was met with thick black smoke, which is when she made the 999 call and was advised to leave the building by operators.

Witness statements from neighbours suggested that Elizabeth only ever smoked in the kitchen and always extinguished her cigarettes with water.

Forensics investigator, Paul Ryder told the court he believed the fire was started in the far left corner at the foot of Elizabeth’s bed and concluded that bedding could only have been ignited by contact with a direct naked flame.

Samples of the bed which were taken away for testing found that the material failed to ignite when exposed to a lit cigarette.

He added that modern materials are designed to melt rather than catch fire from a smoldering ignition, such as that caused by a cigarette.

Additionally no smoking paraphernalia was found anywhere in the bedroom and no electrical appliances were found near the bed, ruling out an electrical fire as a potential cause

The trial at Leicester Crown Court is scheduled to continue next week.