Youth, 17, arrested over blaze deaths released

Victims Niamh and Cayden Maynard, aged five and two, died in the fire at their home in Buxton, Derbyshire, on Friday night after they became trapped upstairs.

Their mother, 23-year-old Fiona Adams, jumped to safety from a bedroom window on to a trampoline with her eight-month-old son Kiernan.

Yesterday Derbyshire Police said a 17-year-old arrested in the early hours of Saturday in connection with the fire in Edale Way had been released from custody and was no longer a suspect.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill said: "During the course of any investigation we make arrests when someone's conduct gives rise to suspicion as to their actions.

"After a thorough investigation, I am satisfied that this 17-year-old is not involved in the fire.

"As I have previously stated, the community of Fairfield have been very supportive to our investigation so far and I am extremely grateful for that and the way in which local people have responded to this tragedy.

"My plea is that this continues. The police investigation is still very much ongoing and the help and co-operation of the community is pivotal to it being successful."

Mr Cotterill appealed for anyone with any photographs or video footage of the scene either before, during or after the blaze to come forward.

Emergency services were called to the blaze just before midnight on Friday night.

It is believed the children's father James Maynard was at work at the time.

Ms Adams and her baby were rushed to hospital after jumping from the bedroom window, but the two children were trapped upstairs.

Yesterday police said both mother and baby were stable in hospitals in Manchester.

Post mortem examinations were due to take place on Niamh and Cayden yesterday, but police said formal identification had yet to take place.

Investigations were continuing into the possible cause of the fire, which has been described as suspicious by police.

Yesterday it emerged Ms Adams called police on a non-emergency number just an hour before the fire broke out to report noise and nuisance in her garden.

Officers attended within 16 minutes and searched the area but could not find anything, police said.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has been informed of the incident.

Police said they had attended the address several times over the past three years concerning domestic-related incidents rather than anti-social behaviour or nuisance-related incidents.

Investigations were continuing last night into reports that

Ms Adams had experienced problems with anti-social behaviour.

Mr Cotterill previously said police received a call at 10.45pm on Friday night from the 23-year-old reporting nuisance behaviour and noise coming from her back garden.

He said that while one officer sat and spoke with her, a second conducted a search. Some garden furniture had been disturbed but nothing else was found.

Tributes including flowers and teddy bears continued to be placed at the scene yesterday as prayers were said in the local community.

Rev Carl Edwards, vicar at nearby St Peter's Church, said the tragedy had hit the residents hard.

He said: "It's a very tight-knit community but Buxton is of the nature whereby most people know or are connected in some way, and Fairfield is very tight-knit.

"So when an incident of this kind of magnitude hits one family it tends to hit many others as well, so there's a sense in which everybody is sharing in the grief."