A mother-of-four died in a ferocious blaze at her £1.2million home despite her estranged husband climbing up the drainpipe in a desperate bid to save her, an inquest heard.
The fire started in the attic bedroom of the newly built home where Kate Mulcahy, 37, was sleeping alone after separating from husband John.
He and their four children, including twin sons and two girls, were asleep on the first floor when fire broke out in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Mulcahy, a bricklayer, ran into the street naked with the children, then aged one to nine years old, after the home’s ten fire alarms went off and ushered them to the safety of a neighbour’s property.
He then climbed a drainpipe to the roof of the property at Ramsden Farm, Middleton, Greater Manchester, and broke a Velux window and roof tiles in a desperate attempt to save his wife but was forced back by heat and flames.
Neighbours, who had tried to go inside the house but were beaten back by the flames, heard him screaming ‘Kate, Kate!’ from the top of the roof.
At an inquest in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, coroner Michael Salt described project manager Kate’s death as ‘sad and tragic’.
There were no suspicious circumstances to the tragedy, which may have been caused by careless use of smoking materials, the court was told.
Kate Mulcahy was sleeping in the attic of the family home when a ferocious blaze broke out
The inquest heard how John and Kate had met 15 years previously and had been married for ten years although the coroner said the relationship had ‘run into difficulties’.
Mr Salt said: ‘That in itself is not unusual in this day and age.’
On the day of her death on March 10, 2024, Kate had been out on a baby shower with two friends and toxicology reports showed she had been drinking – though she was well below drink-driving levels – and had also taken low levels of amphetamines and cannabis.
Home office pathologist Dr Jamie Robinson said: ‘It is possible the drugs could have influenced her behaviour rendering her less likely to get out of the scene quickly.’
Dr Robinson said there had been significant damage to her body with soot found in the air passages and lungs.
He added: ‘It is highly likely she would have been rapidly rendered unconscious by fire fumes which, along with burns, are the likely cause of death.’
Neighbour Tim Ainsworth said he knew Kate was not intoxicated on the night of her death because his wife Sammy had been out with her to a baby shower and then to a local pub.
He heard ‘banging’ on his door at 4.17am to be greeted by a naked John who shepherded the children into the home.
Police examined the Mulcahys’ home as floral tributes were left in the wake of the tragedy
Mr Ainsworth said: ‘John was screaming for Kate in a panicked way. He seemed like he was in complete terror.
‘He climbed a drainpipe and I could see him at the top of the roof. The flames were really large and intense and John was shouting for her.
‘He was breaking through the roof and shouting “Kate, Kate”. When he came down from the roof his hair was singed and there was soot on his forehead.’
On separate occasions, Mr Ainsworth and another neighbour, Marcel Duffy, both opened the front door of the property – which had recently been put up for sale – and tried to get upstairs to the attic but were driven back by a ‘wall of fire’.
‘I thought if anyone was in that room they would not have survived,’ he added.
Forensic scientist Martin Crookes said he believed there had been a ‘flashover’ in the attic room which would have set light to everything.
He said Kate was known to smoke and use cannabis.
Mr Crookes said: ‘I cannot exclude the potential that careless use of smoking material was the cause of this fire.’
He said alternative causes could have been from a naked flame somewhere in the room or an electrical failure but it was impossible to determine because of the intensity of the blaze.
The first of the ten smoke alarms in the house had been activated at 3.51am.
Coroner Mr Salt concluded Kate died an accidental death in what he described as a ‘ferocious’ blaze.
He said: ‘The precise cause of this fire has not been established. It was a ferocious fire that has been described as a flashover which has hampered investigations.
‘We cannot be 100 per cent sure of what took place. The precise cause remains unascertained.
‘I offer my condolences to the family especially the children.’
