4 MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 2018 LEICESTER MERCURY
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❚❙ Three weeks after a devastating gas explosion in Birstall, neighbours
‘How we all survived when
house blew up I don’t know’
BY JACOB JARVIS
A man who lived opposite the
house which blew up in Birstall
says his life and that of his
family and pets could have
been lost in the explosion.
Julian Howe, a retired Reven-
ue and Customs worker, told
how ceiling tiles flew over his
home and embedded them-
selves in his back garden.
The slats still remain wedged
into the ground and Mr Howe
believes they “would have
killed somebody” if they had
hit them.
“If there had been people in
the street, who knows.
“How we all survived I don’t
know. Three people, a dog and a
cockatiel.
“We just think ourselves
lucky.” he said.
He also described how thick
curtains in his front room
caught some shards of glass
which otherwise would have
shot into his home.
‘AMAZING ESCAPE’
His wife, Christine, was a few
yards away in the kitchen and
he said she had “an amazing es-
cape”.
Despite the curtains absorb-
ing some of the potentially leth-
al fragments from the window,
the floor in his home is still
littered with the remnants.
His dog survived by pure coin-
cidence as he was sleeping up-
stairs at the time.
Mr Howe said: “Usually he’s
in the front room. He’d have
been killed.”
Despite the damage, Mr Howe
has said his house is structur-
ally safe.
But inside the home the dam-
age is severe.
In his daughter’s room, insu-
lation and plaster dangles
above the bed she was lying in
at the time of the explosion.
Pieces of glass are embedded
in walls.
“It’s a strange thing. You’ve
more chance of winning the lot-
tery than your house being des-
troyed like this,” he said.
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MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 2018 LEICESTER MERCURY 5
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are still coming to terms with the damage – and a family to a tragic loss
PICTURES: CHRIS GORDON; SWNS
GONE: The homes worst-hit by the
explosion have been levelled. They
include the house where Janet Jasper,
left, and her husband, below, lived
NARROW
ESCAPE:
Julian Howe
Floral tributes where homes once stood
said he and his
family are lucky
they weren’t hit
by flying debris
– though their
home was
badly damaged
THE two houses at the epicentre ter and, as described by the Mrs Jasper was airlifted to “She was generous and sup-
of the fatal explosion in Alling- message, auntie. University Hospital Coventry porting and would help any- LEICESTERSHIRE Fire and “The explosion is attrib-
ton Drive, Birstall, have been In a light purple font on its after the incident. body out that she could. Rescue Service said the ex- uted to a catastrophic fail-
completely torn down. front, it reads: “What is an A wall collapsed on her as she “Everybody who knew her plosion was accidental. ure of an internal gas pipe
In their place, flowers and auntie? lay in bed. She died in the hos- loved her.” With police, they con- joint, in the floor of the
tributes have been laid on the “An auntie is someone who pital in the early hours of A fund-raising page has been cluded there would be no property, and the escaping
barren plot of land where 79- knows you inside out. December 14, three days after set up to support Mr Jasper. criminal investigation. gas being ignited by a cook-
Displaced for six months year-old Janet Jasper lost her
life.
One note to Mrs Jasper reads
“From your cutest childhood
moments to your most embar-
rassing stories.
the blast.
Her husband John, 80, was
downstairs and survived the
To donate, go to:
justgiving.com/crowdfunding/
hollybooty
A spokesman for the fire
service said: “The cause
has been categorised as ac-
er spark generator switch.
“A forensic investigation
is now under way by the
“much missed neighbour and “She’s added smiles and blast with almost no injuries. Another campaign to raise cidental and the seat of the Health and Safety Executive
From Front Page here, it’s turned their lives up- has had to move in with her friend”. laughter to so many family The Jaspers’ son Anthony, 50, money to support all those af- explosion has now been to identify what caused the
side down.” daughter. Another is a floral card for the times, helping make special said: “My mum had a lovely fected by the incident raised identified. failure of the internal pipe.”
somewhere now. It The retired Revenue and Cus- Her son-in-law was at the late mother, grandmother, sis- memories you’ll never forget.” personality. £3,780.
was just a miracle toms worker said he has found bungalow yesterday and has
we got out alive. a nearby property to let for six been helping the pensioner to
“We’ve just been months initially. liaise with the insurance com-
sorting things – He is unsure of the extent of pany. “It’s a nightmare. It’s just
we don’t look the work needed to repair his a big mess,” he said.
more than one house and does not know how It is also looking likely that
ASPECTS ROOFING
or two days long his family will be out of she will be displaced for sever-
ahead. the property. al months while her home is
“We’re in Another neighbour said: “I repaired.
our own think most people have moved She escaped unscathed but
bubble. The and they’ve been told they large sections of her home will
rest of the won’t be able to come back for need extensive renovation.
world goes on.
“There are a lot
of elderly people
about six months.”
An 80-year-old, who has lived
More than 50 homes sus-
tained some level of damage
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