Boyfriend tells how he found body on floor

The heartbroken boyfriend of a woman who died after being electrocuted while mopping up a leak at her West Bromwich home has recalled the horrific moments he found her body.

Andy Cross found 22-year old Emma Shaw lying on the floor at her home in Grafton Road after she had been trying to mop up a flood believed to have been caused by a leaking boiler.

Mr Frost, who works as a gas engineer, had been called home by Miss Shaw, a former Willingsworth High School pupil, because of the deluge and she said she could see sparks.

An inquest into the former supermarket worker's death in 2007 resumed yesterday at Smethwick Council House.

"I got there about 12 noon and found her lying on the floor," he said. "I shook her a few times. I've looked at her. Her eyes were red and her lips were pale. Her legs were stretched out. There was no sign of life."

The couple's one-year old son Brayden was found in the living room unharmed.

"I picked him up and phoned (an ambulance) straight away and turned the electricity off," he said.

Mr Cross described Miss Shaw as 'a practical girl and a really good mum.'

He said the flat had suffered some electrical problems in the past.

Diane Potter, Emma's mother, said she was unable to hold on to the phone when she heard her daughter had been involved in an accident at her flat in Jefferson Place.

The court also heard that a part of the boiler in the flat which should have been made from metal had been plastic.

The pipe, which was used to carry water heated up to 95C in temperature, was "not an approved installation", Trevor Roe of boiler designers Telford Copper Cylinders said.

The inquest was also read a statement by the landlord of the flat Kuldip Singh who said he had had no problems reported with either the boiler or the electrics by Miss Shaw or the previous tenants of the flat.

The inquest continues.