Carbon monoxide not found at tot’s house

DEADLY gas carbon monoxide was not detected at Royton toddler Dallas Smith’s home.

On the third day of the inquest into the three-year-old’s death on January 26, 2008, the jury heard a report by gas safety engineer Paul Cichy.

Mr Cichy, who has 42 years’ experience in his field, inspected Dallas’s home in Rochdale Road and the adjoining property two days after his death. And while some of the gas appliances in both homes were deemed to be unsafe, Mr Cichy said they did not pose a risk to the occupants and were not emitting dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.

Pathologist Dr Gauri Batra recorded Dallas’s cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia and said there was no evidence that this was due to unnatural causes or a toxin.

The inquest, which is being held at Oldham County Court, also heard from Colin Reed, the owner and landlord of the property. Mr Reed confirmed that he held all the legally required gas safety certificates for the property and that he had not experienced any health problems while he was living at the house several years earlier. Toxicology reports showed a high level of manganese, a metal oxide present in all humans, in Dallas’s blood. Consultant clinical biochemist Dr Gwendolyn Ayres said this could be because of contamination during the obtaining of the sample and didn’t believe Dallas’s death to be due to manganese toxicity. Proceeding.