Appeal to public at inquest on father who died in fire

Sonia Chadwick, now 33, and her children, Scott and Dominic, who were six and four at the time of the attack in 2005, only survived after following instructions to stay close to the floor given by the 999 operator.

Had fire crews arrived 30 seconds later there could have been another three fatalities, the inquest heard.

Her fiance, engineer James Tomlin, 36, could not save himself, despite mustering up enough strength to throw himself out of a bedroom window. He died of smoke inhalation.

At his inquest yesterday in Bradford, police renewed their murder appeal as nobody has ever been charged with pouring an accelerant through the letterbox of their home in Shipley, near Bradford.

Mr Tomlin stood little chance after the fire, aided by kerosene, roared up the staircase into the room where he was asleep.

His fiancée, Sonia, sleeping with the children in the front bedroom, telephoned the fire brigade and spoke to operator Emma Sutcliffe as the blaze burned through their home at 4.40am on August 15, 2005.

The-then station manager at Bradford, Keith Robinson, said: “There were eight calls to the station that night, and Sonia’s call was one of those.

“The tapes of that call are harrowing. She followed the advice to the letter; if the fire brigade had been another half a minute later then there could have been another three fatalities. It was really, really tight.”

The house should have had hard-wired smoke alarms, but these had been removed and were in a cupboard, the court heard.

Chief Superintendent Andy Brennan appealed for anybody with any information to come forward: “This is a murder investigation and remains to be so. Nobody has ever been charged although the investigation is ongoing.

“There is no immediate prospect of finding the perpetrators, though we have lines of inquiry we are consistently pursuing.”

Coroner Roger Whitaker recorded a verdict of unlawful killing as he urged householders to have smoke alarms fitted.