EXCLUSIVE: Man charged with manslaughter after house fire in Huddersfield claimed children's lives

Kamal Bains will appear before the courts for the first time next week on two counts of gross negligence manslaughter.

The 50-year-old from Birkby is due before Kirklees Magistrates’ Court on August 18 following a painstaking investigation into a fatal house fire by Huddersfield CID and West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team.

It included the creation of an exact replica of the semi-detached house in Alder Street, where the fire broke out on February 20, 2016.

Logan Taylor, three, and Jake Casey, two, were rescued from the upstairs of the property by firefighters after attempts by a neighbour to reach them failed.

They were taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, but their lives could not be saved.

The children’s mother and older brother had managed to escape before crews reached the scene at around 2.15pm.

Earlier this year, West Yorkshire Police shared details of their plans to replicate the original conditions of the fire as part of their ongoing work to build a case for prosecution.

A senior detective involved in the investigation said then that if charges were brought, it could prove to be a groundbreaking test of recently introduced fire safety legislation.

Detective Superintendent Steve Thomas said: “The regulations relating to landlords and private properties only came into force in October 2015. It’s fairly new and untested.

"Until we present everything to the Crown Prosecution Service, we don’t know whether or not they would support a charge. It’s a bit of a test case I would have thought.”

Although he had moved to neighbouring North Yorkshire Police, Det Supt Thomas remained on the case.

“I’m trying to do the best thing for the family and make sure that we’ve done everything we could,” he said.