Smoke inhalation killed mum and son

A fire which killed a mother and son has been described as a tragic accident.

Michelle Gilbert, 28, and her six-year-old son Jack, were discovered in the same bedroom by firefighters who were called to their home in the Canterbrook Estate, on Navan’s Trim Road, on Saturday afternoon.

Preliminary investigations suggest a small fire began in a sofa in a downstairs sitting room and that the smoke created by the fire, travelled upstairs and into the bedrooms.

Postmortems were carried out yesterday and were expected to confirm they died of smoke inhalation.

A neighbour walking by the semi-detached house at lunchtime noticed the downstairs windows were blackened and alerted the authorities.

No flames were seen and it appears all the damage was caused by smoke. Fire crews from Navan attended the scene and used hatchets to break into the front door.

Family members, including Ms Gilbert’s mother who lives in another part of the same estate, visited the house while the emergency services were there. Yesterday they struggled to come to terms with their loss.

“We thought the fire engines were here for something like a shed fire, we had no idea until later that anyone had died. We are stunned,” said Declan Kettle, chairman of the local residents’ association.

Flowers were laid at the front door of the house. One neighbour said: “We passed the house on the way to and from the shop and we saw nothing... everybody is shocked. We didn’t see anything at all.”

The Mayor of Navan Anton McCabe said the circumstances of their deaths is unimaginable.

“It makes it so very hard to comprehend. You look for reasons for it and ways to prevent it happening again.”