Newark house blast: Second body found
A second body has been found in the rubble of a terraced house which was destroyed by a suspected gas blast in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
Police said continuing searches in the rubble had “revealed” the body of a woman, which would be recovered later.
A man’s body was removed from the house in Wright Street in the early hours. Four people, including two children, were treated in hospital.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue service said a woman, a seven-year-old and a four-month-old baby were from the neighbouring property. They have since been discharged.
Police also confirmed today that a “controlled demolition” was set to be carried out as the property was not considered safe.
Springfield house fire: Woman dead and five injured
A woman has died and five other people have been injured.
The woman, believed to be in her 50s, was confirmed dead at the scene. A teenage girl “sustained approximately 70% burns”, the ambulance service said.
A 26-year-old woman suffered burns, while three other people were also treated for injuries.
Up to 25 firefighters tackled the blaze, the fire is out but Cateswell Road has been cordoned off and remains closed to traffic.
The teenager with 70% burns was sedated at the scene and taken by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Cateswell Road remains closed to traffic and the two houses either side were evacuated during the blaze.
An investigation into its cause is under way.
Image courtesy of BBC News
Accused ‘repeatedly made threats’
It was claimed that Melanie Smith, 42, was drinking heavily on the day leading up to the fire and was heard shouting through Ms Shiers letterbox “I’m going to burn your house down”.
Smith and neighbour Lee-Anna Shiers argued for up to two months before the blaze, the court was told.
The row is said to have intensified over a pram which was left in a walkway outside their flat. Smith is accused of killing the family of five by setting the pram alight.
Ms Shiers, 20, her four-year-old nephew Bailey and two-year-old niece Skye died in the blaze at their home in North Wales.
Firefighters managed to rescue Ms Shiers’ 15-month-old son Charlie and his father, Liam Timbrell, 23, from their first-floor flat but they both died in hospital.
Smith, 42, who lived in the flat below the victims in Maes y Groes, Prestatyn, has gone on trial at Mold Crown Court accused of murdering them.
The court was played a harrowing 999 call in which Mr Timbrell shouted: “Oh my god, oh my god, we’re going to die.”
The jury was told that Mr Timbrell later told rescuing paramedics that “it was arson” and “it was Mel from downstairs”.
Smith denies the five murder charges and also one count of making a threat to destroy or damage property.
UK fire death house to be demolished
Derby City Council leader Paul Bayliss has confirmed the council’s intention to knock down the house where Mick Philpott killed his six children by torching the property as they slept .
The plan will be to consult the local community on what should replace the buildings.
The charred shell of 18 Victory Road, in Derby, has been standing boarded-up and empty since the fire. The house will demolished, British councillors have promised.
Last week, Philpott was jailed for life for the manslaughter of his children, Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, Jayden, five, and Duwayne, 13. He has been ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years before he is considered for release.
His wife, Mairead, and their friend, Paul Mosley, were each jailed for 17 years.
An online petition has already been launched urging the local authority to install a memorial garden.
Council leader Paul Bayliss told the Derby Telegraph: “Who would want to live in a house where six children have died and why would you want to live next door to a house where six children have died?
The house, which was focus of tributes to the six children again last week, has stood as a sombre reminder of the terrible events of the early hours of May 11 last year.
The jury at Nottingham Crown Court found that Philpott, 56, his 32-year-old wife, and Mosley, 46, started the fire in a bid to frame Lisa Willis, Philpott’s former girlfriend.
Willis and her children used to live with the Philpotts but had moved out weeks earlier.
House fire kills toddler and his teenage brother and sister
Fire tore through a house in Devon and a boy of three and his teenage brother and sister died.
A man, believed to be their father, raced back into the burning house to try to rescue the children. The man was treated for injuries and released along with another child. The dead teenagers, a 17-year-old girl and her 18-year-old brother, and the three-year-old boy were among eight people in the terraced house in Honiton, Devon, when the fire broke out on Friday.
Air ambulance flew them to Exeter hospital where they died with family at their bedside. The boy died in a Bristol burns unit several hours later.
Seven people in the house were from one family and the eighth was a friend staying over. The house is near the town’s fire station but area commander Nick Manning said the blaze was “well developed” when firefighters arrived minutes after the alarm was raised at 7.30am.
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police said: “Our thoughts are with the family at this time and investigations are ongoing.”