A YOUNG woman who was killed in a blaze that tore through a terraced house was due to be evicted from the home on the day she died.

Brianna Matthews was found unresponsive at her home in Hundred Acres Close, Headington, on New Year's Eve last year by fire crews.

Several fires were found across the house, including a large one under the stairs, which a coroner and fire crews believe Brianna started herself.

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The 27-year-old had been served her second notice to quit document, notifying her that she needed to leave the premises by December 31, by the housing association who owns the property.

Area coroner Nicholas Graham ruled a narrative conclusion to her death at an inquest on Tuesday (May 28), stating there was insufficient evidence that her death was a suicide.

During the proceedings at Oxford Coroner’s Coroner, it was heard that Brianna had lived at the property since the age of one with her mother, Alison.

However, in June 2023, Green Square Accord Housing Association became aware that Brianna’s mother had been placed in a care home in Chipping Norton and advised Brianna she needed to find new housing as she was not the sole tenant.

The association permitted her to remain in the property while she applied for new housing and offered her legal advice.

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However, the housing officer struggled to contact Brianna, who was never at the property when they visited and would leave phone calls unanswered.

By October, the account was in arrears and Brianna had been given a notice to quit, meaning she was required to have left the property by December 31.

Firefighters were called to the property at 6.15am after a passer-by smelled smoke.

They found Brianna leaning against a door in an upstairs bedroom along with boxes of matches.

A station manager told the inquest that several fires were found, though some had not developed properly.

Two sofas had been set on fire using candles and matches, along with pizza boxes in the kitchen and storage under the stairs.

A smoke alarm had also been removed from the property.

He said he could not tell exactly when the fires had started but believed they had been burning for a long time.

Brianna was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital where she was later pronounced dead. A pathologist ruled that Brianna’s medical cause of death was a combination of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.

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Concluding the inquest, Mr Graham said: “The difficulty is there’s no indication of what her intent was. She may have been angry at the housing association.

“It may have been a cry for help. It’s difficult to know what Brianna’s intentions were and I’m reluctant to speculate.

“I do believe she started the fires but whether she started them to end her life…I don’t have enough evidence to conclude that.”