An elderly woman and her late husband were left in danger of inhaling deadly fumes for two years after a cowboy gas fitter failed to safely install a fire in their Helston home.

Work carried out at Phyllis and Meynell Pembleton’s home in Gweal Folds was classed by safety inspectors as “immediately dangerous”, meaning an “immediate danger to life.”

The fire was fitted by Mark Lawson, on behalf of Varcun Marble Ltd, in January 2012 and was not discovered to be faulty until April this year – some 26 months later.

Simon Jones, an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive that carried out the investigation, said Lawson had shown a “complete disregard” for people who he had fitted fires for.

As a result of his actions in Helston, plus at five other homes in Camborne, Redruth and Truro between January 2012 and October 2013, Lawson was fined a total of £10,666 and ordered to pay £274 in costs by magistrates in Bodmin last Friday.

Lawson, of Fore Street, Baripper, Camborne, pleaded guilty to three breaches of gas safety regulations.

Lee Curnow, company director for Varcurn Marble Ltd who contracted Lawson, to carry out the work, pleaded guilty to a single breach of gas safety regulations.

Curnow, of Greenfield Terrace, Portreath, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £274 in costs.

The fire was fitted when Mr Pembleton, who died in August 2012, was still alive and Mrs Pembleton said they had used it a lot.

Mrs Pembleton, 83, told the Packet of Lawson: “He seemed to know what he was doing, but I didn’t know if he did or not. I didn’t find anything strange about him – you take it for granted they are CORGI people.

“I was surprised when they contacted me [about the fault]; I had no idea. I didn’t worry about it – I should have done really. Looking back I thought it could have been serious, but at the time I didn’t think about of it.”

The court heard how Lawson, a plumber by trade, had never been a qualified member of CORGI (now the Gas Safety Register) and had no CORGI qualifications in gas fitting.

In two of the other cases he had actually shown the homeowners a false ID, conning them into believing he was a member of the Gas Safety Register, and used a properly registered member’s name and number of the certificates he issued.

Authorities were first alerted to a problem at house in St Eval, where fumes were reported. As a result of that investigation inspectors became aware of a further five homes where fires had been fitted by Lawson on behalf of Varcurn Marble Ltd.

Engineers on the Gas Safety Register were sent to all the properties and found that without exception there were problems with the installation of those fires – most of them extremely serious.

Four were classed as “immediately dangerous”, meaning if operated or left connected to a gas supply there would be immediate danger to life or property, one was classed “at risk” with one or more faults that could constitute a danger to life or property, and the sixth had a previously reported gas leak following work by Mark Lawson, which would be classed as “immediately dangerous.”

In Helston the front of the Pembleton’s fire was said to have soot on it, an indication of “spillage” where the fire was not connected properly to the chimney.

This meant that not only was it not burning correctly but fumes were also not being vented properly and were therefore potentially spilling out into the room – leading to a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mr Jones said: “Luckily, in this case we haven’t had any reports of carbon monoxide poisoning and haven’t had a fatality – but the risk was there all the time.”

He added that Curnow, who contracted the work, had also risked the lives of his customers by failing to check if Lawson was on the Gas Safe Register, by asking to see his register membership card, checking the installer page on the register website or calling the body direct.

Mr Jones said the HSE hoped Lawson and Curnow had told them of all fires he had fitted, but anyone who believed Lawson had installed one to their house should have it checked immediately by a member of the Gas Safety Register and contact both the HSE and the register itself.

He warned customers to always check the ID of any gas engineer they employed, to ensure they were properly registered.

If in doubt, call the Gas Safety Register on free phone 0800 408 5500 or visit its website to input the details on the ID.