Two cousins suffered horrific facial burns after a friend allegedly squirted fuel on a pub heater, causing it to explode into a fireball, a court has heard. April Charlesworth, 31, saw her birthday celebrations turn into a nightmare when she was left with agonising burns to her neck, hands and face. The former student had been at the Kings Head pub in Great Cornard, Suffolk, for her 28th birthday on April 24, 2021.
April was at the pub with her cousin Ashleigh Charlesworth, 32, and friends when a member of their group allegedly squirted fuel on a tabletop heater. Ashleigh, a former children's nurse, was put on a ventilator after her airway started to swell, and suffered burns to her chest, face and hands. Jurors at Ipswich Crown Court heard that pal Dale Carter, 30, was out with the group for the cousins’ first night out after the Covid lockdown.
The group were sitting at tables in the pub car park on a cold evening when April's brother Sam Charlesworth reportedly went to their mother's home nearby and returned with a tabletop heater and a bottle of ethanol. Sam lit the heater and allegedly put the bottle of fuel in a bag before leaving the area. When he returned, he heard screaming and saw flames on the table and became aware that his sister and cousin were badly injured.
Sam claimed he had warned Carter about the danger of a fireball and joked with him about 'not setting anybody on fire'. He alleged Carter waved his hand through the flame twice and said he was 'Iron Man'. Another witness, Mark Lawrence, told the court he saw Carter put fuel on the heater twice; the first time a flame flashed a foot out, and the second time the flame was sucked into the bottle, setting fire to the table and causing the bottle to explode like 'a rocket'. Danny Wheeler told the court that after the second squirt, the lid and end of the bottle blew off, setting fire to Carter's hair and people's clothes.
Carter's barrister, Michael Epstein, acknowledged the horror of the incident but described it as a 'freak accident'. Carter has denied two offences of inflicting grievous bodily harm. Ashleigh has been forced to become a clinician for the NHS 111 service due to her injuries. April, a mother of one, said: 'It was difficult to readjust to normal life. It still is. I still don’t like going out by myself, it completely changed me as a person.' The trial continues.
