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Blaze couple set up home again

6/ 3/2002

A DEVOTED husband has been reunited with his wife, six months after a blaze gutted their home and left him fighting for his life.

Laurence and Mary Smith, who have been together for almost 50 years, were forced to jump from their first floor flat in Oaklands Dene, Godley, last August after a fire swept through the building.

Mary, aged 77, leapt from her bedroom window, grabbing hold of a ladder put up to the flat by firefighters, but lost her grip and fell to the ground, breaking her pelvis.

Husband Laurence was barely conscious when he jumped to escape the flames that were closing in on him.

The 81-year-old, who suffers from a heart condition and has undergone by-pass operations, was in a coma for six weeks and his family were warned to expect the worst.

But Laurence, who is described by his family as indestructible, pulled through after intensive treatment at Tameside and Wythenshawe hospitals.

Now staff at Fir Trees Care Centre in Dukinfield, where he has spent the last six weeks undergoing physiotherapy, have allowed him to go home.

He said: "They thought I was passing away when I first went into hospital and they phoned my son twice during the night to tell him they thought he should come down.

"But I pulled through. I can't walk very far now or drive a car - I used to love walking into Hyde and having a look round. But we are just pleased we are back together and to be given another chance."

The blaze gutted the couple's flat and the only possessions firefighters managed to salvage were a handful of photographs and a video of their silver wedding celebrations.

Now they have made a fresh start at a warden controlled flat in Hattersley, just a few minutes' walk from the rest of their family.

Mary said: "They have done out the old flat but it is just the memory of it. If we went back it would be on our minds all the time.

"We feel secure here, it's a new start for us. We are together again and near our family."

Two men have been charged with starting the fire and are due to appear at Minshull Street Crown Court on April 22.