British police on Friday arrested a woman in her twenties on suspicion of murder after five children died in a house fire in the central English city of Derby.
“Sadly I can now confirm that five children have died, and their ages range from five to 10 years,” Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill of Derbyshire Police told a news conference. “I can confirm that a woman in her late twenties has been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with this case,” he added, although he stressed that detectives were keeping an open mind about the cause of the fire.
Cotterill said a sixth child, aged 13, and two adults were being treated in hospital, after emergency services were called to the semi-detached house early Friday. The children’s father was named in media reports as Mick Philpott, a father of 17 who made headlines in 2007 after demanding that local authorities give him a larger house to share with his wife, girlfriend and eight of their children. The father had made a “valiant attempt” to rescue the children, who had been sleeping on the first floor, Cotterill said.
