Telford fatal fire ‘not started deliberately’

Tuesday 5th April 2011, 4:40PM BST.

Can’t see video? Update Adobe Flash Player
Video may take a moment to load. Return to Video Index

A fire which killed a six-year-old Shropshire girl and her father was not started deliberately, police said today. Kay-Leigh Cooke and her father Andrew Lineton, 33, died in the blaze in Briarwood, Brookside, Telford, on Sunday.

Fire chiefs said the fire had started some time over the weekend before burning itself out and leaving the house filled with toxic smoke.

Kay-Leigh, from Woodside and a pupil at William Reynolds Infants School in Woodside, is understood to have been staying with her father for the weekend.

Tributes have been paid to the youngster by her teachers who described her as a “little star and everybody’s friend”.

Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Eccleston, of Tel-ford CID, said: “Fire and for-ensic investigators spent yes- terday morning at the scene and at this stage there is no evidence to suggest the fire was started deliberately.”

John Das Gupta, area manager for Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The fire remained undetected so it burned itself out but during that time the fire produced large quantities of toxic smoke which filled the ground and first floor of the property.”

Mr Das Gupta added: “It appears from initial investigations that it was this toxic smoke that has sadly claimed the lives of these two people

View more: Brookside news, Telford news, Woodside news.