A grieving dad is warning Christmas shoppers not to buy second hand e-batteries after his whole family died in a horrific house fire.
Scott Peden purchased a second-hand battery for his e-bike to save money after his previous one was stolen, and needed his bicycle to get to work. But just two days after he bought it the battery exploded – killing his partner, Gemma Germeney, 31, and their two young children, Lilly, eight and Oliver, four. The family’s two dogs also died. Scott miraculously pulled through after four weeks in a coma and is now trying to rebuild his life, while warning others of the dangers of second-hand lithium batteries.
The festive season will also mark two years since his sister, Stephanie, was murdered. Scott, 31, from Cambridge, said: “I grieve every day for the family I have lost, but this time of year is especially tough because Gemma and the children had birthdays, and my sister was murdered over New Year.
“At Christmas, when people are buying e-bikes as gifts, I am pleading with people not to buy second hand batteries. There needs to be stricter regulations over the resale of batteries, they should be checked and certified. We had smoke alarms, but because it was a lithium battery, we didn’t stand a chance. I lost everything in the fire, and I have to start all over again. Gemma should have celebrated her birthday on December 14, Oliver should be 6 on December 23. Lily should be turning 9 in January.
“Instead, they are gone. The only positive to come from this is me making sure it does not happen to anyone else.”
Scott and Gemma met at college in Cambridge as teenagers, and moved in together 10 years ago. They had two children, Lilley and Oliver, who were aged eight and four when they died. The family also had a greyhound-boxer cross, named Bitsy, and a Dalmatian called Rolo.
In June 2023, after he had nipped out to buy dog food, his battery was stolen from outside a local shop. Faced with no way of getting to work, Scott ordered a second-hand replacement on Ebay, and thought it was a “bargain” when he bought he picked it up for £300 – around half the usual price.
Scott left the battery to charge downstairs in the hallway. But on the second night, he and Gemma were woken at 12.45am by a huge bang. Scott ran to find the entire staircase in flames. He said: “The bang was like a bomb going off. The stairs were engulfed in flames; the walls, the banister, the whole lot was alight. I knew we had no chance of making it downstairs.
“I tried screaming for help out of the window, but nobody came and so I jumped out, into the back garden, breaking my heel as I landed. I got in through the back door and realised immediately the e-bike was the source. I tried to throw the battery outside, but the door was so hot, it burned my hands, and then the key melted. The fire was spreading, and I was choking, and I realised there was no way through.
“I ran back out to the garden, hoping to persuade Gemma and the children to jump. I heard Gemma shout: ‘I can’t get out,’ and then there was nothing. The house was ablaze, and I collapsed onto the children’s trampoline behind me. I was aware of someone patting me down and realised I was on fire.”
Neighbours called for help and stayed with Scott until firefighters and paramedics arrived. He passed out when he saw Lilly’s body carried out of the house. Scott was placed in a coma for four weeks, and treated at Broomfield Hospital, a specialist burns unit in Chelmsford.
Scott’s mum Glenda Hanson, 65, who first bought her son the e-bike for work, flew back from a holiday to be at her son’s bedside and “didn’t even recognise him at first” because of his burns. Recalling what she saw, she said: “I was told it was touch and go. The lithium battery fumes, which are toxic, had got into his lungs and caused severe damage.”
In the weeks that followed, Scott survived three bouts of pneumonia, a cardiac arrest and an infection. When he woke up, he remembered all the details of the fire, but did not know if his family had survived. Glenda said: “That was the worst thing, having to tell him that they didn’t make it.”
At a joint funeral, Scott played Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’, which was his and Gemma’s song. Their ashes are all buried together. Scott said: “I still can’t process what’s happened. I lost my entire family, everything, in a matter of minutes. We had so much to look forward to, and I am dreading this new life, on my own. I don’t even have photos to remember them by, everything I owned was destroyed.”
Scott’s family had faced an earlier tragedy when his sister, Stephanie Hansen, 39, was murdered by her house mate, Sheldon Rodrigues, 30. Her body was discovered on New Year’s Eve 2022 in her West London flat. The Old Bailey heard Rodrigues had become fixated on Stephanie and stabbed her to death after she refused his advances. Rodrigues was jailed for life in March this year. He will serve a minimum of 25 years.
Scott says: “As well as losing my entire family, I’ve had to go through the trauma of my sister’s murder, and the trial. Christmas is especially hard, and I am speaking out to warn other families of the dangers of buying second hand batteries. There should be greater regulation, especially where lithium batteries are concerned. I thought I was saving money, which is something all young families try to do, especially around Christmas. I would never have had the battery in my home if I’d known there was a risk.”
