Blaze-deaths probe focuses on burglary

Police have said that the home where a mother and her five children were killed by a fire was burgled on the night of the tragedy.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Nov 2012, 06:00 BST

Sabah Usmani and her sons Sohaib, 11, and Rayyan, six, and daughter Hira, 13, died in Barn Mead, Harlow, Essex, on October 15, with a third son, Muneeb, nine, and daughter Maheen, three, dying later in hospital.

Essex Police said yesterday they believe there was a burglary at the property on the night of the fire in which a laptop belonging to the children’s father and the only member of the family to survive the fire, Abdul Shakoor, was stolen.

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Det Supt Rob Vinson said he was seeking to speak to a teenage boy and young girl who were seen throwing a laptop bag away near the family home.

Mr Vinson, the senior investigating officer on the case, said: “Recent developments have moved the investigation forward in a number of directions and we now believe that there was a burglary at Dr Shakoor’s house.

“We believe that this burglary took place after the family had gone to bed and before the fire was discovered.”