DETECTIVES investigating the death of an Irish pensioner who caught fire in Haringey are appealing for information and witnesses.
Shortly after 1pm on Sunday, September 17, John Nolan was found ablaze in Orchard Place N17, near to Williams House just yards from his north London home.
Members of the public made efforts to put the fire out and called police.
Officers, London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade attended the location and the fire was quickly extinguished by LFB and Mr Nolan was taken to a specialist hospital outside of London by London's Air Ambulance.
Mr Nolan, 71, suffered third degree burns on 65 per cent on his body following the incident.
The Irishman, originally from Co Mayo but was living in Tenterden Road N17, had been in London since the 1960s and worked in the construction industry up until he had a stroke in the 1980s.
On the day of the incident, he and his brother Jimmy had planned to watch their home county take on Dublin in The All-Ireland Final.
But when Mr Nolan’s younger brother arrived at his home, the elderly Irishman had already been airlifted by the Air Ambulance to a specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.
Speaking to The Irish Post after his death, Mr Nolan's sister Mary Caffery said her brother was 'totally unrecognisable.'
"He had very deep burns on 65 per cent of his body, and was bandaged from head to foot.”
Ms Caffery said Mr Nolan’s face was ‘swollen and blistered,’ and the only part that wasn’t burned was the top of his forehead.
A post-mortem examination carried out on September 27 gave Mr Nolan's cause of death as severe burns.
An inquest will open at Barnet Coroner's Court on March 13 2018.
The cause of the blaze was investigated by specialist LFB investigators, and no accelerant was found.
Detectives from Haringey CID are investigating and enquiries continue to establish the circumstances.
No arrests have been made and the death is being treated as unexplained at this time.
The investigating officer, PC Damien Ait-Amer, said: "We have spoken with a number of witnesses who saw Mr Nolan abalze, but we have yet to establish how the fire started.
"Mr Nolan was a well-liked member of the community and none of our enquiries so far have indicated that he had been involved in a dispute of any sort.
"Nor does any account given by witnesses suggest that he had been in contact with another person at the time of the fire."
Anyone who witnessed the incident but has yet to speak with police is urged to call PC Damien Ait-Amer via 101. You can also tweet information to police via @MetCC.
