FIRE brigade investigators were unable to pinpoint the cause of the blaze that killed a Euro MP’s father-in-law on Christmas Eve, an inquest heard yesterday.

US-born Edward Beaver, 80, lived in a basement flat at the home of his daughter, Cyndi Hughes, a Darlington Borough councillor, and her husband, Durham MEP Stephen Hughes.

At breakfast time on December 24, last year, amid thick snow, a fire began in the flat at the back of the family’s large Victorian town house in Oakdene Avenue, Darlington.

Fire crews tried to rescue Mr Beaver, from Pennsylvania, but when they found him in his wheelchair just inside the door, he had died.

Fire brigade station manager Steve Wharton said crews were on the scene within five minutes.

Mr Wharton described the fire as severe and said that because of the damage, it had not been possible to determine the cause, although there were no suspicious circumstances.

A linen basket next to the washing machine was “a significant seat of fire in the premises”, but a writing table and lamp nearby had also been severely damaged.

Investigators said the fire could have started there and set the basket alight.

Mr Wharton said Mr Beaver had not been a smoker, and his family said he would never have done anything that might endanger his loved ones. He said there were no smoke alarms in the flat.

He said: “He was an American citizen and the family described how he did enjoy listening to and watching American sports in American time, and it would not be unusual for him to be going to bed when other people were getting up.”

Darlington Memorial Hospital pathologist Clive Bloxham said Mr Beaver had a blood-alcohol reading twice the legal limit for driving and said that may have impaired his judgement.

Coroner Andrew Tweddle recorded a verdict of accidental death.