Mum speaks after Leegomery blaze inquest

A Telford mother who was pulled from her burning house with her two children in a fire which killed her partner today said her life "will never be the same again".

Andrea Partington, who suffered 67 per cent burns, was found unconscious in her living room by a neighbour as a blaze ripped through her home in Leegomery in June last year, while her children screamed from upstairs bedrooms.

Neighbours and firefighters pulled Mrs Partington and her two children from the burning house in Sunderland Drive, but her partner Adrian Hemming, who had been covered in petrol, died after suffering 90 per cent burns.

Speaking after an inquest today recorded an open verdict on Mr Hemming and failed to establish how the fire had started, Mrs Partington said she had been left with the scars from the blaze.

"I feel relief that it's over but for me it's never going to be over because I have got to live with the physical injuries," she said.

She added: "I want to say thank you to the neighbours who put their own lives at risk to save myself and my family. I also want to thank West Mercia Police and Victim Support, they have been fantastic."

At the conclusion of the inquest in Telford, Mr John Ellery, coroner for Telford and Wrekin, said it was impossible to tell who started the fire or how Mr Hemming became covered in petrol after Mrs Partington said she could not remember anything after 11.30am on the day of the fire, which started at 9.30pm.