9:45am Monday 15th March 2010
A homeless man died in 'a ball of fire' at a building in Whitland where he had been living rough, an inquest has heard.
The fire broke out at the Old Pump House in the town's Station Road last November, and the body of the man was found at the scene.
He had extensive burns on his legs and torso, and DNA samples were taken in an attempt to ascertain his identity.
The inquest conducted by Carmarthenshire coroner, John Owen, heard that the DNA matched that of a Timothy Bond Jackson. The probability of the match being that of someone else was put at one billion to one.
Police, who were called to the scene of the fire, found a quantity of alcohol and signs of occupancy in the old pumping station, together with bags of rubbish.
Local people had seen a 'ball of fire' in the building before the badly-burnt body was discovered, the inquest heard.
The coroner heard that there were no significant witnesses or reason to suspect third-party involvement, and said that tests found that Mr Jackson had 173 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.
A post-mortem report established that the cause of death was 'exposure to the combustible products of fire', and a verdict of accidental death was recorded.
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