Sheffield house fire victim was not killed by blaze, murder detectives say

South Yorkshire Police have today named the victim as 44-year-old Cy Cooper.

He was pulled from the blaze at Bluebell Close in the Wincobank area of the city in the early hours of Wednesday July 29.

A post-mortem examination has determined the cause of Mr Cooper’s death as “multiple injuries”, none of which were related to the fire, a police spokesperson said.

A murder investigation was launched by detectives on Wednesday and five people, four men and a woman, were initially arrested on suspicion of murder.

A 23-year-old man remains in police custody today being questioned by officers. The remaining four have been released from the investigation.

The fire is being treated as arson and a joint investigation with South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue is underway to establish the cause of a fire.

The fire is believed to have started on the ground floor of the property.

Neighbours on the street woke on Wednesday to find police tape cordoning it off with a police presence outside the house as forensics started their search.

They described the man as “quiet” and a “loner”.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “He was a loner, a quiet chap. He had lived in the flat since the 90s.

“More recently some men had started drinking outside the flats and he joined them, it went on all day some days.”

The neighbour said he heard “noise and banging” from the flats where the man lived at around 10pm and was woken at 2am by flashing lights from emergency

vehicles on the street.

Another resident said he saw an injured man in the street while a number of other men sat on a wall outside.

He said forensics experts in white coats began to arrive at the flat during the night.