A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) would be held to some hotel fire that led to the deaths of two guests following the Crown Office created a U-turn on its earlier decision not to hold an investigation.
Richard Dyson and Simon Midgley lost their lives in a fire at Cameron House Hotel at December 2017.
After the conviction of Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Restricted and also a member of staff, the Crown Office had determined that the conditions of the deaths had been established and that the public interest would not be further served by an FAI.
The family of Mr Midgley then exercised their right to ask for a review of the decision to not hold an FAI.
A complete inspection was carried out by Crown counsel without previous involvement in the initial decision-making procedure. They concluded that an FAI should be held.
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service stated:”This was a catastrophic fire which caused two deaths and put the lives of several others in danger.
“Throughout two prosecutions, information on the causes and circumstances of the deaths of Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson were introduced in court. Meaningful changes have been made and lessons have been learned from the events.
“However, a review by independent Crown Counsel with no previous participation in this case has concluded that there are wider public interest issues around the safety of guests and construction fire protection that should feature in a fatal accident inquiry.
“The procurator fiscal has now started work to commence this question and there are a variety of legal steps which must be taken before it can commence. The detailed work completed in the preparation of the prosecutions will be invaluable in this process.
“The families will be kept informed of what will happen next.”
“The Cameron House fire has been one of the greatest tragedies I have had to deal with in my time as MSP for Dumbarton. Justice must be performed for the families of Simon Midgley and Richard Dyson and all of the facts of this situation must be brought to light.
“We must ensure that lessons are learned from this tragic event and that such a tragedy isn’t repeated.”
