A BOURNEMOUTH father has told of his belief that his daughter's tragic death could have been prevented.

Tina Smithson, 46, and two of her friends died in a horrific flat fire in Paris, where they staying on a girlie weekend to celebrate her birthday.

A blaze broke out in a pizza restaurant on the ground floor but spread to a nearby lead gas pipe that supplied the top floors of the 18th century building.

Firefighters rushed to the scene but could not find the gas stopcock to turn off the supply.

Tina's dad Ronald Smithson, of Woodside Close, Ferndown, said after the inquest: "We will never find out what caused the fire.

"The thing that is disturbing and that would have no doubt saved my daughter is the gas company couldn't turn the gas off."

The retired banker, 77, said his daughter, a solicitor from Harrow, Middlesex, had celebrated her 46th birthday on the night that fire tore through the building.

"Tina was well liked and extremely intelligent. I miss her so much and her friends are devastated by her death."

The inquest heard how more than 180 firemen battled the enormous fire for six hours but were unable to reach Tina and her friends Wendy Flasjner, 44, and Caroline Brenton, 46, in time.

The trio's bodies were pulled from the wreckage the following day and had to be identified by DNA. A pathology report revealed Tina died from carbon monoxide poisoning inhaled through smoke while she slept.

The cause of the fire is still unknown although three men in their 20s were spotted in the entrance to the building smoking and taking drugs shortly before it started, the inquest was told.

Sheriff Payne, coroner for Bournemouth, Poole and East Dorset, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

"After the fire started it proved impossible to turn the gas off for an hour, meaning it continued to provide a flame," he said. "There would appear to be criticism over the use of lead piping for the gas and the fact that a supply couldn't be easily turned off."