E-scooter battery on charge killed mum, 36, and her three children in Bootle house fire

From the Newshound archive · first published 29 September 2026 · last updated 30 September 2026.

Elisha Brabin, 36, perished alongside her three children — Leo, 16, Ellis, eight, and Prudence, seven — when a lithium-ion e-scooter battery on charge ignited their home on Stone Square in Bootle at 3.45am on September 22. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said the battery had been disconnected from the scooter and was charging independently when it went into thermal runaway — a rapid, uncontrollable temperature spike. One other person was hospitalised with burns. Family members described Elisha as a 'devoted and loving mother who lived for her children'.

Between April 2023 and August 2026, Merseyside fire service recorded 150 lithium-ion battery fires, five of them fatal.

Nearly half of those incidents occurred inside residential properties, with 45% breaking out between 9pm and 8am — the hours when batteries are most commonly left to charge overnight.

An online fundraiser for the Brabin family has surpassed £13,000, with relatives saying their 'beautiful babies' Leo, Ellis and Prudence were 'loved beyond measure'.