A landlord has paid a total of £6,000 in fines and £2,500 in costs after pleading guilty to eight breaches of the Fire and Safety Order 2005.

Antonio Meloni, 68, appeared at Runcorn Magistrates Court last month after a year-long process regarding the conditions at his three-storey property in Widnes.

In June 2009 fire investigators at Mr Meloni’s property found blocked escape routes, locked fire escapes and an inadequate fire alarm system. The flats were found to be so dangerous that Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said that they had to be vacated.

Mr Meloni had around a year to improve conditions at the property but the Service decided to go ahead with the prosecution. He was summonsed at the end of May 2010.

A spokesman for the Service said: “He [Mr Meloni] was given adequate time to fix the property and was served with a prohibition notice so the time frame for compliance was determined by his business needs.”

Mark Abram, head of community fire protection at the Service said: "This was a case of someone failing to understand their responsibility as a landlord to provide an adequate fire risk assessment on their properties – something which ultimately could lead to a loss of life.”

Following the fines, Mr Meloni made the necessary adjustments to his property and is now permitted to have tenants in the first floor of the property. However the Service said it likely that the second floor’s rooms would remain closed.