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Man Wakes From Coma To Discover He Blew Roof Off Mum's House

Man Wakes From Coma To Discover He Blew Roof Off Mum's House

It's not clear why he was messing with fireworks, but it went very wrong

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A man awoke from an induced coma to discover he had created chaos after accidentally setting off a huge firework at his family home in Liverpool, blowing the roof off the house.

Paul Carr accidentally set off the 'industrial strength' firework in the attic room and caused a fire.

As well as losing his right hand completely, Carr - who was employed on a building site at the time of time of the explosion - lost one of his fingers and the thumb from his left hand.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Carr told a paramedic he'd been 'grinding industrial fireworks to be turned into gunpowder', and the Liverpool Echo reports he admitted responsibility for the blast, saying he'd been attempting to turn two fireworks into one for a more impressive display.

He pleaded guilty to causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury, and was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, with a 20 day rehabilitation requirement.

The blaze was started at around 5.15pm on 12 September 2017 at the Carr's family home in Anfield, Liverpool.

The house after the blast.
Liverpool Echo

Inside the property at the time were Carr's mum and eight-year-old cousin, though more family members do live in the house.

Jonathan Duffy, prosecuting, said Carr's mother rents the house.

A neighbour reported hearing a loud 'boom' before the clock on the wall of his kitchen was knocked from the wall by the blast.

He said he saw 'flames and black smoke billowing from the roof' and heard residents shouting to get out of the house and onto the street.

Mr Duffy said: "It wasn't long before the emergency services, fire service, police and ambulance all arrived at the scene and were confronted with a huge fire.

"They saw that a property had been extensively damaged, the roof had fallen in and it was ablaze."

Carr's mother and cousin were taken off to hospital to receive treatment for smoke inhalation, but no one aside from Carr suffered from any lasting injuries as a result of the explosion.

They later discovered the blast had originated in Carr's room.

Carr leaving Liverpool Crown Court.
Liverpool Echo

Duffy continued: "While inside the confines of his bedroom, the defendant tampered with industrial strength fireworks by breaking them open.

"It is not known precisely what he did, less still why he did what he did."

Carr was placed into an induced coma and wasn't interviewed until he awoke three months later with no recollection of the incident.

Mr Carr - now 28-years-old - has five previous convictions for nine unrelated offences, and his defence argued that he'd had the matter hanging over him for three years and 'hasn't put a foot wrong since'.

Christopher Stables added: "It's an unusual case in the sense that the defendant is in reality both the defendant and the victim in this case.

"He suffered extremely serious physical injuries in the blast."

Judge Denis Watson QC said: "For reasons which are hard to fathom you decided to meddle with some large display or industrial fireworks.

"It seems your intention was to make a larger one for a more spectacular effect.

"From what you said to the paramedics, you were in the process of dismantling one or two fireworks, using some sort of blender or grinder to do so."

Speaking of the 'obvious' risks, he added: "You blew off the roof of your parent's home and of course there were members of your family at home.

The damaged roof.
Liverpool Echo

"You risked injury to and the life of your parents, family and neighbours and caused serious injury to yourself."

However, he ruled that 'it was never intended that this should be detonated in a way to cause harm to anybody, or cause damage to anything'.

He said: "Everybody else, the landlord, your family and neighbours all appear to have accepted this was unintentional."

Featured Image Credit: Liverpool Echo

Topics: Liverpool, UK News, Weird

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