Upon initial inspection, the tiny white plug that was packaged in bubble wrap and sent by mail seemed quite harmless.
Currently, hundreds of thousands of such devices are plugged into outlets in living rooms, kitchens, offices, and children’s bedrooms across the nation, powering mobile phones, of which 30 million are sold in the UK annually, not to mention in the US.
However, the explosion that occurred shortly after Katie Vines, a new mother, plugged the device into her bedroom wall was not innocuous at all, accompanied by a plume of black smoke.
The explosion was so strong that it literally broke the charger in two, leaving a thick, sooty ring around the plug.
But this wasn’t an isolated incident; the same gadget would be used a second time.
Care assistant Katie, who resides in Bristol with her partner Chris Smitherman and their 19-month-old daughter Aimee, still shudders at the thought of what might have been.
The November event has taken on a disturbing importance after it was discovered that a faulty charger was likely the cause of the fire that claimed the lives of three generations of the same family last month, including a nine-week-old newborn.
