Woman died in flat fire after lighting 17 candles for romantic evening with imaginary boyfriend

 A 46-year-old woman, Jane Ellis, from Sandhurst, Berkshire was found lying dead on her bathroom floor after setting her own flat on fire. The woman is said to have been delusional and that she was having a romantic night with her imaginary boyfriend ‘Ian’.

Jane had had a ‘long relationship’ with ‘Ian’ and told people that they were going to get married and have their honeymoon in Egypt. She accidentally set her flat on fire and dismissed her neighbors who tried warning her about the fire.

Her brother-in-law, Andrew, told the courts: In my opinion this was an entirely preventable incident, had Jane been put in a safe place and adequately monitored until she became well. We were pleading to speak to the assessor to give further information about her and we were refused point blank from doing so.”

Jane’s family also criticized a crisis mental health care team for abandoning Ms. Ellis before the blaze after the family had sectioned her under the Mental Health Act.