AN inquest jury hearing evidence over four days has failed to agree if retired Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism chief Malcolm Baker intended to kill himself when his Exmoor home blew up.

Mr Baker, aged 60, died on the evening of September 14, 2022, when Hiccombe House, in Hartford, near Brompton Regis, was destroyed in a fireball which erupted as police were called to a ‘domestic incident’ with his long-term partner Francesca Onody.

He had stockpiled 125 litres of petrol in containers around the isolated property and cancelled his home insurance a few days earlier.

Mr Baker ran upstairs and barricaded himself in his bedroom and refused to open the door for police responding to Ms Onody’s call.

Moments later as police tried to force an entry to arrest Mr Baker, a catastrophic blaze broke out and the officers had to flee with Ms Onody.

The jury heard the couple had been together nearly 20 years and had two children, but were in the process of divorcing.

Mr Baker had retired in 2011 with the rank of detective superintendent and moved to Exmoor with his family and ran a security consultancy with Ms Onody.

He had explosives knowledge from his police service, and previously worked at the Sellafield nuclear processing plant in Cumbria.

Mr Baker led the first UK team giving support to America after the 9/11 terrorism attack in New York and provided the liaison for the British Consulate in the weeks following the atrocity.

Police had been called by Ms Onody to their home several times during the summer of 2022 because of allegations she made of domestic abuse and financial fraud.

The family had become increasingly concerned about Mr Baker’s heavy drinking and mental health, his storing of petrol canisters in the house, and when he left a dead rabbit in Ms Onody’s bed.

Fire investigators believed the fatal blaze started on the ground floor of the house and was likely to have been caused by petrol fumes being ignited by electrical items.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue fire investigation manager John Donovan said Mr Baker could not have started the blaze himself because he was locked in his upstairs bedroom.

Anybody else involved in starting it would have been injured by the immediate ignition of the petrol.

Mr Donovan told the inquest jury: “On the balance of probabilities, it would be my opinion it was an electrical item within the ground floor.

“But, due to the level of fire destruction inside I cannot categorically say which electrical item.”

The jury was shown police body worn video footage and heard Mr Baker saying through the bedroom door: “I do not need any help, I just need to work this through with my solicitor.

“My wife is being horrible, I do not need any help, I am fine.

“My wife is doing this tactically to ruin me.”

The jury concluded the cause of Mr Baker’s death was ‘unascertained’ but agreed it was the result of the explosion and fire, whether ‘intentional or reckless act’.