Double tragedy as mum and her disabled son die in house fire which started in wardrobe

Sarita Garcia-Perez, 65, and her son Sancho Garcia-Bolsover, 31, both lost their lives during the fire at their three-storey terraced home on Staunton Close, Chesterfield.

On April 7 fire crews rushed to the house at around 2.50am to battle the blaze, however Sarita and Sancho were both pronounced dead at the scene.

At an inquest into their deaths on Friday (September 20) Derbyshire Coroner Susan Evans described how the fire was “well-established” when firefighters arrived.

The inquest heard the blaze originated in the walk-in-wardrobe of the master bedroom from a naked flame having come into contact with items inside.

In a record of inquest following the hearing Ms Evans wrote: “It is not known what the source of the naked flame was or how it came to be in the vicinity of the wardrobe.”

However the coroner stated that Sancho was inside the room where the fire started at the time.

She wrote: “From the evidence it is likely that his (Sancho’s) mother Sarita Garcia-Perez was alerted to the fire and upon entering the bedroom opened the window to dissipate the smoke. This increased the ventilation and intensified the fire.”

Ms Evans gave their cause of death as inhalation of the products of combustion and concluded their deaths were the result of an accident.

An earlier hearing as told Sarita was a retired stewardess and Sancho was unemployed due to a disability at the time.