Norwich landlord is jailed over a blaze in flats above a mobile phone shop which left a young woman with horrific injuries and less than a one percent chance of survival.

A landlord has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after a fire in one of his properties left a teenage tenant so badly burnt she was given less than one per cent chance of survival. Only pioneering skin grafting techniques saved Layla Skalli’s life after she suffered 80 per cent deep tissue burns all over her body following the blaze at her Norwich flat.

Virtually all the skin below her neck was destroyed by the intense 600 degree heat as the property above a mobile phone shop became a raging inferno last year with tenants in three adjoining properties lucky to escape the blaze. Fire crews also rescued a woman living in a second floor apartment above Miss Skalli’s flat as she prepared to jump for her life. Other tenants climbed down a drain pipe to escape.

Landlord Michael Billings appeared at Norwich Crown Court on 7th May to admit charges brought by both the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service. The court heard Billings failed to provide even the most basic protection for his tenants, such as fitting a working fire alarm system, installing the correct number of fire doors or even providing adequate means of escape. The gas appliances in the flats above the shop had not been serviced or properly inspected.

Judge Paul Downes sentenced Mr Billings, of Ashman’s Hall, Barsham, Beccles, Suffolk, to two-and-a-half year’s imprisonment and ordered him to pay £20,000 in costs. Judge Downes said he would review the sentence if Mr Billings pays Miss Skalli £20,000 as a show of remorse. The judge also ordered a £400 award be paid out of the public purse to Dominic Gale, a passer-by who raised the alarm after spotting the fire.

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