A FIRE in which a publican's wife and an 18 month old baby girl died was started deliberately, with at least a gallon of flammable fluid, an authority told a murder trial jury yesterday.
The fluid had been spread over carpet and throughout the hall, said Dr Robert Watt, who investigated the 1981 Stardust fire in Dublin. Gardai had asked Dr Watt to conduct tests at a research centre in England.
The jury of six men and six women saw video recordings of these tests in which simulated fires depicted the incident in Rathfarnham, Dublin.
Dr Watt was giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court on the 11th day of the trial of publican, Mr Francis McCann.
Mr McCann (36) has denied the murders of his wife, Esther (36), and baby Jessica at the family home at Butterfield Avenue on September 4th, 1992.
The jury has heard that Jessica was a blood relative of the accused but not a child of his marriage to Esther.
The prosecution has claimed that Mr McCann arranged fire because he did not want tell his wife why the Adoption Board had refused the couple's application to adopt Jessica.
The jury has also heard that Mr McCann, who owned the Cooperage Pub in Blessington, Co Wicklow, had complained to gardai of threatening phone calls to the pub and his home.
Dr Watt told Mr Kenneth Mills SC, prosecuting, that he had been a senior scientific officer at the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory.
He is now a partner in the firm of Dr JH Burgoyne and Partners and his work is now fire investigation. He has given evidence in US, Indian and Irish courts and gave evidence at the tribunal which investigated the Stardust fire.
He carried out tests at the Cardington Test Facility using a test rig simulating the hall, stairs and landing area of the house at Butterfield Avenue.
On January 15th, 1994, he carried out three tests at the rig in which two gas blowtorches and a gas cylinder were placed beneath a table and petrol was put on the carpet and ignited remotely by an electrical device.
Following the tests, he reported that it was clear there had been an intense fire over a widespread area of the hallway.
It was clear from the fire damage that something was spread over the floor. He believed that at least a gallon of flammable liquid was spread throughout the hallway.
The fire was started shortly before it was observed and it developed quickly.
"This fire was started deliberately using a considerable quantity of flammable liquid," he said. "It's my opinion that the fire must have resulted from a deliberate act," he said.
The trial before Mr Justice Carney and the jury continues today.