Two men who died in the Cameron House blaze prised a picture frame from a wall in a bid to smash their way out the burning building, an inquiry has heard.
Simon Midgley, 32, and his partner Richard Dyson, 38 Simon Midgley, 32, died following the blaze at the five-star Cameron House Hotel near Balloch on the banks of Loch Lomond, in December 2017.
The couple were unable to escape the building in the fire, which saw more than 200 hotel guests evacuated.
The hearing has heard evidence that the couple were found by firefighters on the top of a second floor fire exit stairwell.
The second day of the Fatal Accident at Paisley Sheriff Court has heard evidence from retired fire investigator Gary Love.
He spoke to a report he prepared in 2018, telling how a large picture frame was found on its side near to where the tragic couple were found.
He said: “I noted that a large picture frame was observed on its side directly below the window on the second floor landing.
“It’s evident the frame had been prised from the adjacent wall maybe with the intention of being used to smash the window.
“There were two relatively clean patches on the wall directly adjacent to the door.
“Information provided by the attending fire officers stated this was the precise location in which both deceased were found.”
A photograph was shown to the court of the broken frame lying beneath the window within the smoke damaged stairwell.
Mr Love said the window could not have been opened, explaining: “I noted that the window on the second floor landing where the deceased were located was fixed with no means of opening.
“The double glazing within the window frame was laminated. The inner frame had been smashed with broken glass present within the window frame.”
Crown Counsel Graeme Jessop asked if the findings were consistent with the men trying to smash the window at the location they were found, to which he replied: “Yes”.
The inquiry heard the window provided "no safe exit" as it looked over the roof of the lower part of the building.
The inquiry has heard that post mortem tests on both men found they died from inhalation of smoke fire gases, caused by the hotel fire, suggesting they were alive during the blaze.
Mr Dyson was declared dead by members of the Scottish Ambulance Service after they fought to save his life, while Mr Midgley died at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
Hotel operator Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Ltd was previously fined £500,000, and night porter Christopher O’Malley, from Renton, was given a community payback order over the fire.
Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard in January last year that the fire started after O’Malley emptied ash and embers from a fuel fire into a polythene bag, and then put it in a cupboard of kindling and newspapers.
The hotel firm admitted failing to take the necessary fire safety measures to ensure the safety of its guests and employees between January 14 2016 and December 18 2017.
Earlier, the inquiry was shown security camera footage of the moment night porter Christopher O’Malley opened the concierge cupboard in the morning of December 18 that year to discover flames and smoke spewing out of the small room just off the reception area.
Darren Robinson, the hotel’s night manager at the time, was giving evidence to the court and was shown footage of O’Malley filling a black plastic bag with ashes and putting it into the cupboard, which also stored kindling for the nearby fire.
In one part of the footage, O’Malley put the ashes in as he was talking to another hotel employee.
Mr Robinson said: “It’s not something I would have done” , and added it was a “fire risk”.
“There could be hot embers in the ash,” he said, and told the inquiry that at the time there were “flammable materials” in the cupboard.
He did not know they had been put there until he saw video footage, the inquiry was told.
The inquiry before Sheriff Thomas McCartney continues.
