Mohsin Janjua · Prevention of Future Deaths report

On 13/12/2023 I opened an inquest into the death of Mohsin Janjua who, at the date of his death was aged 28 years old. The inquest was resumed and concluded on 30/07/2025.

I found that the cause of death to be: -
1a The Effects of Fire

I concluded with a narrative conclusion:
On 02/12/2023, Mohsin Janjua died from the inhalation of products of combustion in a house fire at his home address at ████████ Bradford. Unknown to him, he had previously purchased an unsafe lithium battery on the internet in order to convert his bicycle with other modifiable parts to an E-bike, which he left on charge overnight in his living room. It is found more likely than not that the fire was caused by a catastrophic failure of the ion lithium battery.

During the early hours of 02/12/2023, whilst the family were asleep at their home address of ████████ Bradford a pedal cycle converted by Mohsin to an e-bike suddenly caught fire after he had plugged its battery into the mains in the living room where he was sleeping on the sofa.

When Mohsin became aware he immediately alerted his mother and son in the upstairs bedroom and they were all able to exit by way of the front door. However since Mohsin’s brother was thought to be trapped inside the house, Mohsin reentered the burning property in a bid to locate him, albeit in doing so he was unaware that his brother had previously jumped to safety from his upstairs bedroom window, sustain injuries in the process.

Notwithstanding his injuries, Mohsins brother made his own desperate attempt to re enter the property, risking his own life, but despite his best efforts, was forced back by the density of the toxic smoke and fire intensity to escape down the stairs.

Upon the arrival of fire service and upon entering the property, Mohsin was found unresponsive in the rear upstairs bedroom, but was subsequently found to have died.

The inquest heard that Mohsin had converted his Carrera bike with an electric motor 18 months previously and that he had replaced the motor a week before he died with a 20am/hour 52-volt battery.

Test purchases were conducted after it was established that he had purchased the battery from a site on eBay and a forensic examination of this along with the recovered remains of the lithium battery from the fire.
The test purchase battery and charger, thought to have emanated from China, were found not to confirm with UK safety standards and regulations. Although the battery recovered from the fire showed some similarities with the test purchase, the extent of its fire damage prevented further identifications.

The fire investigation officer confirmed in his evidence that the ion-lithium battery purchased by Mohsin was the source of the fire.

• To review and reconsider the adequacy of the of the current unregulated sale of lithium-ion batteries, especially those intended for e-bike conversions through online market places, since they pose a significant and growing risk to public safety.
• Fires caused by substandard or non-compliant batteries have increased and many originate from online marketplaces.
• At the moment it is my understanding that online market places disclaim responsibility for the safety of 3rd party goods, so I ask that you give consideration to the appropriateness of regulations to make online marketplaces jointly responsible for ensuring the safety and legal compliances of products sold on their sites.
• Consider further steps to increase the general publics awareness with regard to the life threatening risks involved with lithium ion batteries from e-bikes in this case stored in domestic properties.