A landlord has been handed a suspended jail sentence after deadly carbon monoxide was found to be leaking from a gas fire in the living room of a Middlesbrough house.

Christopher Hobaiter appeared before Teesside Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty to offences under the 1998 Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations.

The windows in the ground floor of the property had been sealed and could not be opened, while ventilation had also been jammed.

Health and Safety Executive inspectors said the tenant of the home in Wilton Street, one of the terraces near Teesside University, could easily have been killed by the fumes coming from the fire, which had a back boiler.

“Low level carbon monoxide poisoning can be severe and debilitating and almost always fatal at higher levels,” said inspector Richard Bulmer.

“Falling asleep in the vicinity of a carbon monoxide producing gas fire is highly likely to lead to death.”

Mr Hobaiter, of Lyndon Avenue, Hartburn, Stockton, was given a 26-week prison sentence which was suspended for two years. He was also ordered to pay £1,904.02 in costs.