Mobile home family ‘may have died within minutes’

Three members of the same family, who died after suspected carbon monoxide poisoning at a caravan park, would have been “unconscious within minutes”, investigators said yesterday.

It is believed there was no carbon monoxide detector in the static caravan where the bodies of John Cook, 90, his wife Audrey, 86, and their 46-year-old daughter Maureen were discovered on Saturday afternoon. The family may have been using a heater to keep warm at Tremarle Home Park in Cornwallwhere freezing conditions were recorded at the weekend.

Mark Pratten, crew manager in prevention with Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The people inside the home would have slipped into unconsciousness within a few minutes. They would then go into a comatose state very quickly.”