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 around 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.

And she said that the private landlord she rented from did nothing to help them.

Ms 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.

Ms 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.”

Ms 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 Awaab Ishak died in Rochdale from a respiratory condition caused by mould at his home.

Wearing a red t-shirt featuring a picture of her son, Ms Brooks told Ms Kearsley she never realised mould could be harmful until she heard about Awaab’s case.

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

Ms 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”.

Ms 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”.