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Image source, Family photo
Gemma Germeney, pictured with partner Scott Peden, died in the blaze along with their children Oliver and Lilly
ByPhil Shepka
Cambridgeshire
An e-bike battery linked to a fire which killed a mother and two children had issues prior to the blaze, an inquest has heard.
Gemma Germeney, 31, and children Lilly, eight, and Oliver, four, lost their lives in the fire on Sackville Close in Cambridge on 30 June 2023. The children's father, Scott Peden, survived.
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said at the time the most probable cause of the fire was an e-bike that was charging.
Scott Peden told the inquest he had bought a replacement battery after the previous one had been stolen and the bike later cut out, and had visited a repairman twice for work done.
Peden told the inquest he had purchased the bike online for £900 and it was in "perfect working order", apart from an incident where he lost the key on a fairground ride.
He said the battery was stolen a few months later and they researched a new one, but it would have been "quite a lot of money and I couldn't afford it at the time".
Peden spent four weeks in a coma after jumping from an upstairs window before trying to tackle the fire
Peden told the inquest bought a second-hand one online advertised as in "perfect working order" around 9 June.
He said the replacement "seemed to take a while to charge", but "it was getting enough for me to get around", however, it then "cut out" near his home.
A colleague had given them the details of repairman Stoil Severinov and he went with Germeney's father to his house, where he was told "the battery was too powerful for the fuse so he changed the fuse" for £30.
But he returned, this time alone, after it cut out again when he said Severinov told him the battery needed replacing, but Peden said he "had nothing in the bank, so I asked him desperately if he could do anything before I got paid".
He "offered to bypass the cells", and he was told this would be a temporary fix.
Asked if Severinov told him there were any risks, Peden replied "no".
Peden planned to "use the bike until payday" and said he paid £10 on the understanding he would return and purchase a new battery and charger.
He said on the night of the fire he heard a "massive bang" that went through the house, which was "very loud and very hard to miss".
Severinov, giving evidence through an interpreter, said he was repairing bikes and e-bikes.
He said on the first occasion Peden visited he changed the socket and the fuse, and on the second "it was just the fuse".
On the first occasion he had explained "it was a temporary fix".
Severinov said he remembered telling Peden he needed a new battery, and said he had "never done anything to the battery cells", adding he "didn't have the expertise in the first place".
The court heard Severinov was interviewed under caution by the Office for Product Safety and Standards, which has primacy in bringing any criminal proceedings in this case.
It was told it had said no final decision had been made on whether to initiate criminal proceedings against any individuals or organisations.
A pen portrait from Germeney's mother, read out at the beginning of the inquest by the coroner, said Germeney and the children were "our complete world" and "were beautiful, funny, extremely kind, loving and caring".
The inquest continues.
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