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Revealed: Lethal hydrogen cyanide gas was detected in home of boy, 7, who died from toxic fumes after it was flooded - By MICHAEL POWELL FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

12/9/2021

33 Comments

 
  • Lethal hydrogen cyanide gas was detected in Surrey home of Zane Gbangbola
  • Parents insist he was killed by gas, which seeped from nearby former landfill site
  • Coroner ruled he was poisoned by carbon monoxide from a floodwater pump
  • Now, MoS has obtained emails and an incident log written by PHE officials 
  • These reveal that hydrogen cyanide was detected three times in the house
Boris Johnson is facing calls to order a public inquiry into the death of a schoolboy after the release of official documents sparked claims of a cover-up.
The files reveal that lethal hydrogen cyanide gas was detected in the home of seven-year-old Zane Gbangbola, who died from toxic fumes seven years ago after his family’s home in Chertsey, Surrey, was flooded.
His parents insist he was killed by the deadly gas, which had seeped from toxic waste dumped in a former landfill site nearby.

But in 2016, a coroner ruled the boy had been poisoned by carbon monoxide from a petrol-powered pump used to clear floodwater.
Now, The Mail on Sunday has obtained more than 100 pages of emails and an incident log written by Public Health England officials.
These reveal that hydrogen cyanide was detected three times in the house by firefighters using specialist gas-testing equipment – but no carbon monoxide was found – and that the pump blamed for the tragedy was not even used.

They also show that despite the cyanide readings, senior officials briefed the media that Zane’s death was the result of carbon monoxide poisoning. Public health officials were warned not to mention hydrogen cyanide as a potential cause.
Pleading with the Prime Minister to intervene, Zane’s parents, Kye and Nicole, last night said: ‘We believe the authorities lied pretty much from the moment that we lost our son.
‘That is why we call on Boris Johnson to do the decent thing and open an independent panel inquiry so we can finally get to the truth and get justice for Zane.’
A petition launched by the couple has attracted 110,000 signatures, and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is backing their campaign.

Sir Keir said: ‘I fully support their campaign for an independent panel inquiry to finally get to the truth about Zane’s tragic death.’
Pressure for an inquiry increased last year when a retired Ministry of Defence engineer told the BBC that military contractors dumped chemical waste in gravel pits close to the family’s home.
It also emerged that experts from the top-secret Porton Down defence laboratory rushed to the scene.
The documents obtained by the MoS – which were not disclosed to the coroner – provide fresh detail about what happened after Zane’s mother found him at their riverside home on February 8, 2014.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital; his father was paralysed. The cause was determined as exposure to cyanide.
An entry on the PHE incident log at 9.49am reveals that the fire service had ‘positively identified HCN (hydrogen cyanide) gas on three occasions at the property’, adding that ‘continuous exposure to HCN builds up in the blood and can produce cardiac arrest type symptoms’ and that Zane and his parents ‘may have had extended exposure to the low levels of HCN over a period of weeks’.
By 7.24pm, public health officials were being encouraged to focus on carbon monoxide poisoning.

But an internal update from the Surrey Police Gold Commander 40 minutes later makes clear that cyanide had been detected and the petrol pump had not been in use.
PHE denied it had come under pressure to focus on carbon monoxide as the cause of Zane’s death.
It added that its experts had provided evidence and documents to the coroner and that an expert from the PHE-commissioned National Poisons Information Service had also appeared at the inquest.
A spokesman for Richard Travers, the Surrey Coroner, said the six-week inquest had been ‘independent, full, frank and fearless’ and that ‘a substantial amount of evidence including that from in excess of 70 witnesses’ had been heard.
​Original article here >>

Listen to Zane's mum on LBC with Tom swarbrick

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33 Comments
Jurg Denzler
12/9/2021 04:29:51 am

This must be addressed an innocent boy died and it is being covered up by the people who are legally obliged to state actual facts

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Tamsen Kidd
12/9/2021 04:32:24 am

The government has to take accountability for the tragic death of Zane, and paralysis of his father, due to lethal gases. Justice is called for!

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Jacqueline Rogers
12/9/2021 04:35:32 am

This is awful and totally an unacceptable death. Rest in peace 😢

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Geraldine Sebastian
12/9/2021 04:36:00 am

How much longer must we go on trusting the people who control our lives!

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Terri Newell link
12/9/2021 04:37:27 am

It is about time the truth is acknowledged. His parents deserve to know the truth.

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Claire McArthur
12/9/2021 04:39:43 am

The question is why would the officials cover this up? The answer is probably that if they admitted Cyanide gas was present and caused Zanes death. They would then be forced to investigate the source. If that source were found to be from a nearby landfill - it would a) mean they would need to do all necessary work to make the landfill safe for local residents and b) could raise concerns for others across the UK who also live close to landfill sites.
Zanes family deserve the truth - whatever the implications to local councils and the government. This could potentially be a ticking bomb for many in the UK and we all deserve to know the truth.

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Dianne Kennedy
12/9/2021 04:45:37 am

Boris Johnson, order a public inquiry into the death of a schoolboy after the release of official documents sparked claims of a cover-up.

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Sam Andrews
12/9/2021 04:57:08 am

Just heard about this on the radio. I know you won’t, but never give up .. your family deserve justice. And whoever decided to ‘cover up’ should be held to account. Good luck. X

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Stephen Smith
12/9/2021 05:08:07 am

Conspiracies are easy to imagine and difficult to detect. However on the information reported here there is clear evidence of misdirection of the public and substitution of the Carbon Monoxide narrative in place of Hydrogen Cyanide. We need to know who the private contractors were and the regulations they either ignored or which did not exist. The case has very far reaching implications of considerable public importance

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Christine Pickersgill
12/9/2021 05:35:52 am

The evidence provided here does seem to indicate a cover up - as the parents have argued for 7 years. It's totally in the public interest to investigate this and if this is found to be correct to ensure the people who covered it up are prosecuted.

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Jeanne Watson link
12/9/2021 05:46:41 am

This case must be looked into as a child's life was taken.

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Rena Salmon
12/9/2021 05:52:17 am

This MUST be investigated as it could happen to others who live near landfill sites

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Norman Beavis
12/9/2021 06:27:26 am

We must have a public inquiry over this tragedy and the truth must come out and not hidden. All people who live near land fills must be made aware.

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Wendy Hildyard
12/9/2021 06:27:57 am

After reading this I am disgusted that Zane's death was covered up like this and there should be a full investigation

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Gret mcCarthy
12/9/2021 07:11:23 am

About time ?

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William Sanderson
12/9/2021 07:13:19 am

Best of luck getting Boris to order an enquiry. He's not at all interested in the truth.

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Jay
12/9/2021 07:21:08 am

To many are content not to speak out when a clear injustice has been done. If it was yours, would you not want someone who knew the facts to speak out.? How many more lives will your silence cost ? This a continued hazard for those who live near landfill and it is humane that those who know, grow a conscience and speak up.

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Ella Oates
12/9/2021 07:27:59 am

Finally documentation from Public Health England showing that Hydrogen Cyanide was identified at Zane’s home more than three times. Pressure from someone made them investigate carbon monoxide despite non being detected. Huge cover up, putting money before peoples lives / health and the truth about dear Zanes death.

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Jack doherty
12/9/2021 08:10:52 am

Absolute abomination to cover up on the evidence presented now AND that it was deliberately withheld at a legal inquest. Great sympathy to Zane's family.
The Public Inquiry should be broadened to how/where all HCN was dumped at the time-' public' records from the laboratories should have these important public health facts.
Many landfills are built on but extraction suction sensors I'm sure are available to investigate and look at other deaths in such areas from 'carbon monoxide' , toxins etc ...the truth and freedom and democracy are inseparable.

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Rosemary Georgina Bennett
12/9/2021 08:18:50 am

This is disgraceful and must never happen again.

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Mrs Valerie Barns
12/9/2021 08:36:36 am

It's, about time a public enquiry is held. I am disgusted that it is taking so long. It needs to be held now. Boris Johnson should make sure it happens now and stop dithering about.

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Linda Badham
12/9/2021 08:42:33 am

GOD HELP us all, Zane was a kid , a lovely kid who should be here. My heart goes out to his family . How can you get over something like this !

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Carl Douglas link
12/9/2021 09:04:59 am

Confirming HCN emissions from a landfill in a residential area would be dynamite for the authorities, all the way from local to national government, because there are unexamined, unremediated landfills across the land which are very likely to contain poisonous industrial waste. And some of these have been built over. In many cases, the cyanide-rich waste will have come from local metal-finishing business (electroplating, metal hardening, both of which use cyanides). I have discussed this with people in those businesses who agree that 50 years ago, and even more so during wartime, controls on disposal were minimal or absent, that one handed sealed drums of waste to passing "contractors" with no questions asked, and that in every probability these drums were then dumped into convenient ponds and holes in the ground - and forgotten about. If one solid case is proven, there will be a huge problem for government as the cost of a proper investigation, and umpteen consequent remediations will be vast, as will the scandal. Which is why it was essential in Zane's case to hide evidence, to lie, blame the family, ignore the experts, fabricate evidence and to deceive in all possible ways, regardless of the pain and anguish for the Gbangbola family.

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Gerald Wilson
12/9/2021 09:55:17 am

Zane died on a Friday night. On the Saturday, we - as members of Zane's family's church - learned the dreadful news. On Sunday - at the impromptu memorial service - we learned from people who had been in the house that cyanide had been found there; but that the police had asked for discretion pending further investigations. We didn't realise that the cover-up had already kicked in. This has been a disgusting saga of deliberate denial, concealment and outright lying. Putin would be proud. David Cameron (PM at the time) and Theresa May (Home Secretary at the time) should hang their heads in shame.

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Martin Handyside
12/9/2021 10:37:49 am

Another cover up by the local Authority, young boy died and Father had a heart attack totally Understand the mother wanting The prime minister to take action Tragedy has and a young life lost

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Sheila Walker
12/9/2021 11:10:57 am

Boris Johnson can not be allowed to hide this family and all of the families that also lived and still live nearby the people of England should demand an enquiry for closure for Zack’s family and the rest of our country Boris Johnson and this government must act now

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John Gilmour
12/9/2021 03:56:35 pm

This is an utter disgrace. Those who dumped toxic chemicals,those who misdirected the jury and those in power who wish to gloss over this scandal must be held to account and punished. A public enquiry is a necessary first step towards justice.

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Ed Hall
13/9/2021 01:13:12 am

Appalling-another boris cover up

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Alan Obrien link
13/9/2021 02:48:40 am

As if it needs a comment. The Country just needs to look at Mr. Johnsons choice of Home Secretary to see his weakness. He`s become a flustered, mithered old man. This is another expression of government incompetence. A government which can`t do it`s job ... Govern.

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Neil
13/9/2021 03:29:31 am

I hope the pressure tells on the government. RIP Zane, what negligence on safety.

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John Brooke
13/9/2021 06:37:51 am

In today's world this should never have happened and the government should be held accountable for this child's death or his murder due to safety failure legislation in housing regulations. Even now I have worked in the criminal justice system, for years and have had to help and assist with housing that was unfit for an animal to live in. So this issue is still not being approached and landlords are getting away without complying to housing legislation and laws.

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Paulho Hopes
13/9/2021 08:59:27 am

There is a lot of poisonous gas around these days and much of emanating from Boris Johnson and his minions........

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Brian Gill
14/9/2021 01:41:42 am

Well, to my mind, there are certainly enough legitimate questions to support further formal investigation and enquiry....!

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