Mother begged for help to leave mould-ridden home before son died, inquest hears

A mother who believes her son died due to the chronic damp and mould in their home has told a coroner how she begged the council to help her family move.

Luke Brooks, 27, died in October 2022 after developing an acute respiratory illness, an inquest in Rochdale heard on Monday.

His mother, Patricia Brooks, told the hearing how the house he shared with his parents, a friend and his cousin in Oldham, Greater Manchester, had multiple problems ever since they moved in, in 2014.

She described how the house had no heating from 2014 to 2017, leaked rain through the roof and was plagued with mould, including in the kitchen and bathroom.

Mrs Brooks told Rochdale Coroner’s Court how she was hospitalised herself in 2019 with pneumonia.

She said environmental health officers did not take the problems in the house seriously after she was released from hospital and she and her husband, James, decided that they just wanted to move out.

Mrs Brooks was asked by her barrister, Christian Weaver, what she said when she visited Oldham Council to discuss a move to social housing.

She told the court: “For God’s sake, will you please get us out of that house before someone dies.

“And, a couple of months later, somebody did.”

She said: “Because it nearly killed me in 2019. I’m lucky to be here now.”

Mrs Brooks agreed she was not on a waiting list for housing at the time of her son’s death and had been told to “just keep bidding” for council homes.

The inquest is being heard by the same coroner, Joanne Kearsley, who ruled last year that two-year-old died in Rochdale from a respiratory condition caused by mould at his home.

She said: “I didn’t know mould could kill people until I saw that little boy.”

Mrs Brooks told the court her son had never really been sick in his life before he developed the illness which led to his death.

She said it began with a “sniffle and a little cough” and he died just a week later.

She said Mr Brooks had never worked and spent most of his time playing video games in the upstairs room he shared with his friend, Chris Haycock.

She described her son as “happy go lucky”.

Mrs Brooks said he was “funny, witty, intelligent, clever” and was “really kind-hearted”.

She said: “He would do anything for anyone.”

The coroner began the inquest by stressing that it was important that witnesses do not speculate about the “cause of any virus that Luke may have had or the source of it”.

Mr Haycock told the court how the end-terrace house on Huxley Street had been “broken down” since he arrived with the Brooks family in 2014.

He said the room he shared with Mr Brooks had patches of mould all over but it was not as bad as in the bathroom.

Asked what he thought caused the mould, he said: “Because it (the house) was always damp and leaked when it rained. There were leaks everywhere.”

He said: “You could just tell it was wet just walking in.”

Mr Haycock said he and Mr Brooks spent 90% of their time in that bedroom and admitted it was a “bit of a mess”.

He said three dogs and a cat also shared the room.

Pc Adam Rogers, who attended the house after paramedics confirmed Mr Brooks had died, said he found the property cold and he could see his breath.

The police officer said it felt “tight on the chest throughout the house”.

He said Mr Brooks’s mother told him: “This house put me in hospital and now it has killed my son.”

The officer said Mr Brooks’ bedroom was “run down”, scattered with beer cans, dog food, dirty crockery and pet hair, and with no carpet on the floor. He said there was plaster off the wall in places, exposing some of the brickwork.

Paramedic Neil McKay said he struggled to open the window in Mr Brooks’ bedroom due to the mould on it.