The family of an ex-Scotland Yard counter terror officer are still without a permanent home after he blew himself up in a 2,000C fireball, an inquest heard.
Retired superintendent Malcolm Baker, 60, died in September 2022 after apparently dousing himself in petrol after police arrived at his remote property on Exmoor to arrest him.
The court heard that Mr Baker cancelled the insurance policy on the house only days before a fire would engulf and destroy the property – having previously told his wife she would get ‘half of nothing’ in their impending divorce.
A four-day inquest was held into his death from July 14 to 18 July at the Coroner’s Court in Wells, Somerset.
A jury found that it was not possible to say whether Malcolm Baker, 60, intended to die when he poured petrol inside his home, but that the subsequent explosion and fire was a result of a ‘intentional or reckless act.’
The explosion sparked an inferno which could have reached temperatures of 2000 degrees Celsius, expert witness John Donovan, of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue, testified.
In her evidence, Ms Onody detailed a litany of abuse that she alleged she had been subjected to by Mr Baker throughout the course of their 18-year marriage.
Only weeks before the explosion, she claimed the former Scotland Yard officer had left a dead rabbit in her wife’s bed after she had spoke to a friend about the film The Godfather.
Former Scotland Yard counter terror officer Malcolm Baker (pictured) died after an explosion took place at his home in Exmoor National Park in September 2022
Police had arrived at the family home in Brompton Regis, Somerset (pictured before the blast) to arrest Mr Baker over abuse allegations made by his wife
The explosion and subsequent fireball completely gutted the house, with temperatures reaching up to 2,000 Celsius according to experts
The incident echoes a famous scene in the Francis Ford Coppola classic in which a decapitated horse’s head is left in the bed of a movie producer as a mafia intimidation tactic.
Ms Onody alleges that Mr Baker abused her throughout the course of their 18-year marriage, and that he would spit in her food, shove her and hit her with doors.
His vile behaviour was said to become increasingly ‘threatening’ after he learned that Ms Onody was seeking a divorce.
Changes to divorce laws in April 2022 allowed Ms Onody to annul the marriage without her husband’s permission.
Mr Baker was said to have turned his expertise as police search coordinator taking on terrorists against his wife, and children, ‘searching their bedrooms all the time’ and using his skills to uncover a hidden ‘black book’ detailing domestic abuse compiled by Ms Onody.
During the inquest Mr Baker’s son had alleged his father threatened to ‘slit his throat’ as part of a campaign of abuse.
At this time, Mr Baker was alleged to be consuming as many as 18 cans of cider each day, and would ‘happily’ drink three or four bottles of wine and then take whiskey to bed with him.
Francesca Onody, Mr Baker’s wife, had testified that Mr Baker worked as a security consultant with ‘access to matters which required a high-level security clearance’ after retiring from the police.
Mr Baker’s wife and family were able to evacuate the house before it exploded but the house itself was unsalvageable
Ms Onody told the court that her husband refused to see a mental health professional because she thought he was concerned that doing so would jeopardise his security clearance.
On May 14, 2022, the day after Mr Baker received divorce papers, he purchased 125 litres of petrol in 25 litre drums which he began to store in and around the marital home.
He also purchased £50,000 of vehicles, including an amphibious military Supacat and a Volvo.
When Ms Onody told police about the fuel stockpile, she was told her husband was not committing a criminal offence, and was advised to consult the fire brigade as to any regulations governing the storage of fuel in a domestic setting.
Mr Baker is then alleged to have begun moving money from the joint account, and accessing Companies House to fraudulently reduce his wife’s shares in their shared business from 50-50 to 80-20.
Ms Onody testified she became aware of the changes made to the business on June 14, 2022, when she called the police non-emergency line to report Mr Baker for fraud, the first of several occasions she would report her husband to the police in the following months.
As a result of this initial report, further allegations by Ms Onody against Mr Baker of domestic abuse came to light.
However, testifying in court, Temporary Detective Inspector Pettingell of Avon and Somerset Police said the statute of limitations on the assaults being reported had expired by the time they had learned of them.
Mr Baker was part of the team that investigated the poisoning of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. Pictured: Mr Litvinenko in his hospital bed following the assassination attempt
Summing up police evidence, Mrs Marsh said officers determined that at this time, Mr Baker did not ‘present an immediate risk of serious harm or risk to the victim and did not require urgent action’.
It was not until July 23 that an officer, PC Skinner, was assigned to the case.
It was around this time that Ms Onody recalls discovering, via a phone call from NFU Mutual, that Malcom had cancelled the family’s home insurance policy.
She said that Mr Baker had told her she would get ‘half of nothing’ in the divorce.
Ms Onody brought this to the attention of the couple’s respective divorce lawyers and the court heard that Mr Baker reinstated the insurance policy, before cancelling it again, just days before a fire would engulf and destroy the property.
As Mr Baker’s behaviour continued to worsen, including inviting a friend to the marital home to jointly ‘intimidate’ his wife, police attended the property on three occasions, on July 20, July 30 and on September 14, the day of the explosion.
On each occasion the court heard how Mr Baker would retreat up to his bedroom when officers arrived. On the incident of July 20, officers were unable to communicate with Mr Baker, and on July 30, officers did not attempt to communicate with Mr Baker.
The coroner said the police’s evidence was that officers ‘had no occasion to speak with Malcolm because he was not causing an immediate danger’ and that police powers to detain under S136 of the Mental Health Act do not apply in a private dwelling.
On or around July 22, Ms Onody told police for the first time that her husband had been stockpiling large quantities of fuel in and around the family home, but said she had removed the containers from the house into an outbuilding. It was there that Ms Onody said she discovered a noose, which had been strung around the joists.
The following month, in August, Ms Onody alleged that her husband placed a dead rabbit on her pillow ‘Godfather style’ after she had recently watched the 1970s Marlon Brando film.
Before retirement Mr Baker was a Scotland Yard counter terror officer. Mr Baker was said to have turned his expertise as police search coordinator taking on terrorists against his wife and children, ‘searching their bedrooms all the time’ and using his skills to uncover a hidden ‘black book’ detailing domestic abuse compiled by Ms Onody
She also reported that Mr Baker was ‘trying to intimidate her by implying her would burn down the house’ and that he would tell the cats ‘Don’t worry, you’ll escape’.
Mr Baker is also understood to have been of interest to Britain’s nuclear police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, after Ms Onody reported to local police that he had been shredding documents.
This was in addition to an ongoing investigation by the national fraud team, CID and local police, which Malcolm is understood have become aware of after he stole his wife’s ‘black book’, a record of alleged domestic abuse incidents she had been compiling on the advice of officers.
But TDI Pettingell testified that Mr Baker was not deemed ‘high risk’ and the decision was made to continue evidence gathering, rather than performing an arrest, telling the jury: ‘There was a lot of information which needed to be gathered. We wouldn’t have been in a position to charge him or send him to court. He would have been released and returned to the family home.’
TDI Pettingell said at the time, officers felt Mr Baker was ‘unpleasant’ but not ‘unbearable’ and said Ms Onody was ‘willing to stay in family home and be there for her son and daughter and manage the animals’.
Asked about Mr Baker stockpiling petrol at the property, TDI Pettingell said it was not a ‘specific concern’ due to the rural setting and farm machinery located there – despite the fact the vehicles, which included a tractor and a Supacat military amphibious vehicle, ran on diesel, commenting: ‘We didn’t think there was increased risk at that time or that Mr Baker’s intent was to do anything more sinister.’
On September 14, 2022, Ms Onody called officers to the family home for the third and final time, over abuse allegations.
Mr Baker allegedly barged into Ms Onody and disconnected the phone line, but with the help of her children Ms Onody managed to reconnect the call and officers were dispatched to the address.
PC Lowry and PC Englefield of Avon and Somerset Police arrived at the address, and learned from Ms Onody of various of Malcom’s alleged abuses.
After discussions over what powers the officers had available to them, the arrival of colleagues and attempts to coax Malcom from his bedroom – where he had barricaded himself – the decision was made to force entry and arrest Mr Baker.
Although officers had been made aware that fuel had been stockpiled at the property, Ms Onody told them it had been removed, which they told jurors, they accepted on face value as true.
However, after officers began to shove at the door, PC Lowry recalled, Mr Baker could be heard moving toward the door and throwing a liquid over it, which he quickly identified as petrol.
After some momentary confusion, body worn video footage showed officers come to the realisation the fluid was indeed petrol, and they ordered an immediate evacuation of the property.
After taking the family into the garden, Ms Onody was seen on the video to run back inside the house to retrieve her pet snake before the family were then ushered onto the adjacent road.
Five minutes after the petrol was poured by Mr Baker, an explosion ripped through the downstairs of the six-bedroom Tudor house.
Donovan said the petrol had travelled through the ceiling to the ground floor of the property before vapours began to accumulate.
These vapours would have gathered until ignited, most likely by an electrical appliance inside the house such as a computer, resulting in a shockwave which blew windows clear of the building, he told the jurors.
The explosion sparked an inferno which Mr Donovan testified could have reached temperatures of 2000 degrees Celsius.
Consequently, very little of Mr Baker’s remains could be recovered and those that could were badly heat damaged.
Home Office pathologist Dr Deborah Cook gave the cause of death as 1a ‘unascertained’ because the state of Mr Baker’s remains was such that they could not help to establish a cause of death.
Summing up the evidence to the jury, Senior Corner for Somerset, Samantha Marsh, said Mr Baker had no known history of mental health issues, and that his GP confirmed he had never undertaken a mental health consultation.
The coroner told the jury that Mr Baker ‘Could not have ignited those vapours’ and that it was the expert’s view that ‘nobody else could have done so’, instructing them that they could not come to a verdict of suicide on the facts.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail, the solicitor for Mr Baker’s widow, Francesca Onody said: ‘This process has been exceedingly distressing and stressful for the family, occurring against a backdrop of significant and ongoing hardship.
‘Despite the incident having taken place nearly three years ago, the family remains without a permanent home, having been displaced in the aftermath of the incident.
‘Despite their efforts, they continue to face uncertainty and instability in securing safe and suitable accommodation.
‘In addition to the emotional toll of the inquest, the family is now navigating a series of ongoing battles—both legal and practical—as they endeavour to rebuild their lives.
These challenges include accessing appropriate housing support, managing the long-term impact of trauma, and ensuring that the needs of vulnerable family members are met.’
She added: ‘The family hopes that valuable lessons will be learned from this case, particularly regarding how agencies respond to indications of domestic abuse and how they support families in the aftermath of such tragedies.’
