THE father of a former Oxford University press officer who died from carbon monoxide poisoning has called on homeowners to have alarms fitted.

Katie Haines died a month after returning from her honeymoon in 2010 when carbon monoxide from a faulty boiler made her lose consciousness, knock her head and drown in a bath at her home in Berkshire.

The plea from comes as a new law has made carbon monoxide alarms compulsory in Northern Ireland following the death of two teenagers in 2010.

Gordon Samuel, Mrs Haines’ father, described his daughter as “beautiful, talented and extremely intelligent” and said the gas killed her at the happiest time of her life.

Mr Samuel, 61, from south London, said: “I can’t even articulate what it was like for us to lose our daughter in this way. It is totally unnatural for a child to go before their parents.

“That is why we are encouraging people to to save their own lives and would like to see carbon monoxide alarms become as common in every home as smoke alarms. Smoke alarms are not compulsory but you would be foolish not to have one. The same should be said about carbon monoxide alarms.”

Mrs Haines worked as a journalist before becoming a press officer for the University of Oxford.