Lewisham Homes has been ordered to pay out more than £60,000 for breaking fire safety laws, after a deliberately started blaze killed two women in a Deptford tower block.
More than 100 firefighters tackled the flames which ripped through the 16th floor flats at Marine Tower, in Deptford’s Abinger Grove, on February 4, 2011.
Sri Lankan nationals Kunaliny Alagaratnam, 42, who was a resident at Marine Tower, and her cousin Santhirapathy Tharmalingam, 59, who had been visiting, were both killed in the blaze after becoming trapped in their flat.
Ms Alagaratnam lived in her 16th floor flat with her husband and two young children who were out at the time of the fire.
Lewisham Homes was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on January 29, after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of failing to properly maintain fire doors and one count of failing to review an existing fire risk assessment.
It was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £23,407 in prosecution costs.
The prosecution was brought by LFB under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 after an investigation carried out by fire safety officers.
Sentencing Lewisham Homes, Judge Christopher Hehir said the successful prosecution=should act as a “wake up call” which highlighted the risks of failing to maintain fire safety features in high rise buildings.
In May 2012 Sandra Clarke, a resident at Marine Tower, was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter at Woolwich Crown Court and sentenced to a minimum prison term of six years and eight months.
The court heard how Clarke had a hostile attitude towards Lewisham Homes, accusing them of having spies in the building.
On the day of the fire she was due in the county court for a hearing over her rent arrears, but instead bought two cans of lighter fuel to set fire to her flat.
The investigation by LFB’s fire safety officers revealed a failure to maintain fire doors which directly contributed to the spread of the fire.
Clarke’s flat was fitted with a metal security door which prevented the existing fire door behind it from being closed.
Because of this the flames and deadly smoke were able to spread quickly through the communal area and into the adjacent flats.
Speaking after the sentencing LFB’s Assistant Commissioner for fire safety Neil Orbell described the fatal fire as a “stark reminder of the potentially lethal consequences of failing to maintain vital safety features”.
He said: “Sadly in the case of Marine Tower this life saving engineering was not maintained, causing fire and smoke to spread rapidly into the lobby area and ultimately into a flat where two women, trapped by the fire, tragically died.”
A spokeswoman for Lewisham Homes said: "In 2011 the actions of a tenant led to the deaths of two people and her subsequent conviction, a tragedy that touched us all and we deeply regret.
"We accept our failings under the fire safety regulations and take residents safety very seriously.
"We have been determined to learn lessons and invested heavily year on year to continually improve fire safety, and have made significant progress over the past five years.
"This is shown through our four star ratings in 2013 and 2015 under the British Safety Council’s audit of our health and safety systems."
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