A man accused of causing an explosion at a pub by pouring fuel onto a tabletop heater has denied claims that he was “showing off” when the incident occurred, which resulted in two women sustaining severe burns.

The incident took place on April 24, 2021, when 30-year-old Dale Carter was with friends at the King’s Head in Great Cornard, Suffolk.

Carter, along with his cousins April and Ashleigh Charlesworth, ended up in the hospital after a bottle containing a flammable liquid used to relight their table’s heater reportedly exploded.

He is facing accusations of adding fuel to the heater and initiating the explosion, but he has pled not guilty to two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Hairdresser April Charlesworth, 31, sustained burns to her neck, hands, and face, while her cousin Ashleigh, 32, a former children’s nurse, had to be placed on a ventilator due to her injuries.

According to testimony from Ipswich Crown Court, April’s brother, Sam Charlesworth, had brought both the tabletop heater and a bottle of ethanol to the pub that day.

He claimed he warned Carter about being careful with the heater and fuel. 

Carter, of Earls Colne, Suffolk, told the court that he tried to top up the heater with fuel, pouring fuel over some ‘white material’ in the middle of the heater as he had seen Mr Charlesworth do.

Dale Carter, 30, denies ‘showing off’ and inflicting grievous bodily harm

April Charlesworth pictured with her injuries after the incident 

Pictured: Ashleigh Charlesworth with severe burn injuries after the heater exploded

He did this twice before the heater exploded in a fireball. 

Prosecutor Dingle Clark suggested Carter had been ‘very relaxed and fooling around’, which the defendant denied. 

Mr Clark told Carter he was ‘showing off’ at the time when he added fuel to the heater a second time. Carter also denied this. 

A firefighter who attended the scene said in written evidence read before the jury that Carter ‘seemed inebriated but was coherent’ and not slurring his words. 

‘He was worried that he would be blamed for what had happened and said he had put something on the fire. He said that Danny had told him to put it on the fire,’ said on-call firefighter Matthew Walker in statement read to court. 

The court also heard from PC Bothwell, who recalled being in the hospital with Carter when the defendant spotted April Charlesworth’s boyfriend.

PC Bothwell said Carter raised his voice and apologised for messing up the birthday night, using an expletive.

Carter said he had felt ‘broken’ and ‘lost’, and suffered with anxiety since the incident. 

Pictured: April’s face bandaged after the alleged grievous bodily harm incident   

April has to wear compression garments on her face for 23 hours per day 

Cousins Ashleigh (left) and April Charlesworth were at a pub with friends when the heater exploded in a ‘fireball’

Ashleigh Charlesworth previously said: ‘Mentally it’s been difficult. It’s taken a lot of reflection to know that I’m still here and alive.

‘I get a bit cautious around drunk people. I don’t really go “out out”. If I go out I make sure I’m fully aware of what’s going on around me.

‘I used to be more wild and carefree but now I’m more cautious.’ 

Ipswich Crown Court previously heard that the outing on April 24, 2021, was the cousins’ first night out after the Covid lockdown.

They were sitting at tables in the pub car park with the rest of their group.

It was a cold evening, so Mr Charlesworth went to their mother’s home nearby and returned with two heaters, jurors were told. 

He tried to light a small gas camping stove but was unable to and friends told him to put it away as they could smell gas.

Mr Charlesworth then produced the liquid fuel heater and lit it using ethanol, although it was putting out little heat. 

Ashleigh Charlesworth was put on a ventilator at the hospital 

April Charlesworth suffered burns to her neck, hands and face in the incident 

He claimed to have put the fuel bottle in a bag before briefly leaving the area where the group were sat. 

When Mr Charlesworth returned he heard screaming and witnessed flames on the table, realising his sister and cousin were badly injured, the court was told. 

Giving evidence, he said he joked with the defendant about ‘not setting anybody on fire’ and claimed Carter had waved his hand through the flame twice and said he was ‘Iron Man’. 

Cross-examined by Michael Epstein, who is representing Carter, Mr Charlesworth denied leaving the bottle of ethanol on the table or that he was mistaken about his warning to the defendant about being careful with the heater and fuel. 

Mark Lawrence, who witnessed the incident and was April’s boyfriend at the time, described how his friend Carter splashed fuel on the heater from a bottle on the table, causing a flame to flash out.

The second time he did it, the flame was sucked into the bottle, causing it to explode and turn into ‘a rocket’, as well as setting light to the table.

Carter’s ex-girlfriend, Sophie Brown, said she went to the toilet as the flame from the heater was starting to die down, suggesting it was running out of fuel.

When she returned to the table, Ms Brown said she saw that Carter’s face had been burned and Ashleigh was ‘on the floor screaming’. 

She said: ‘I asked him what happened, and he was in shock. He replied, “I don’t know”… I could tell everyone was in shock.

‘The pub told me that he was passed the bottle to relight the flame. I can’t remember who told me.’

Ms Brown said Carter was ‘broken’ after the incident. 

‘He didn’t want to go out. He was very sad and down and obviously in pain,’ she said. 

Rebecca Robertson, who was also in the group, was standing around 15ft away when she became ‘aware of a commotion coming from the table’ before she heard ‘cheering and screaming’.  

‘I looked over and saw Dale standing between the two benches. I saw a tall flame in front of Dale,’ she said. 

‘One of the girls had flames to her face and hands. I saw her fall to the floor and roll over to try and put out the flames.’ 

Ms Robertson went to help Ashleigh, who was screaming: ‘Help me, help me.’

‘She tried to take hold of my hand and I could see her hand was badly burned. She started calling for her Dad and her phone,’ Ms Robertson said. 

She then went to look inside the pub for April and found her ‘completely stunned’ and ‘in an extreme state of shock.’

‘Members of staff came out with jugs of water to pour all over the burn injuries.’

She later recalled seeing Carter on an ambulance stretcher, saying: ‘Oh Becky. They will all hate me, tell them I’m sorry.’ 

Carter, who suggested he was trying to reignite the heater as it was running low on fuel, suffered burns to his hair and face. 

The jury is expected to begin their deliberations on Thursday.