Devon and Cornwall Police are treating a fatal house fire as murder
Police are treating the death of a woman in a house fire sparked by a firework as murder, and warned the culprits that they will be caught.
Mary Fox, 59, became trapped in the house in Carpenter Court, Bodmin, Cornwall, after pushing her teenage son to safety from an upstairs window on Thursday.
Her 17-year-old son, Raum, was taken to Treliske Hospital where he was treated for smoke inhalation and later released.
Devon and Cornwall Police said a firework was found behind the front door and it had been pushed through the letterbox.
Officers leading the investigation said they would be looking at concerns that Raum was being bullied at school.
Speaking at a press conference at Bodmin police station, Superintendent Martin Orpe warned the people responsible for the firework attack that he was confident police would find them.
"I am appealing to those people involved in this to do the decent thing and come forward to the police. If not, I am confident from what I have seen that we will be knocking on their doors shortly.
"I would ask them to come forward, and anyone who knows fact in relation to this incident, not rumour, because there is a lot of rumour going around Bodmin, to come forward and give us that information."
Mr Orpe said police were "following up leads that the family were being targeted", but said the Fox family home was not an address known to police.
"This was not an address that we were called to a number of times and we do not have any evidence within police systems to corroborate that the family were being bullied and that this was reported to the police, but that is something that we will be looking at. We will be talking to partner agencies to tell us what they know about this family."
Someone will have seen this or the one who did it will have bragged about it. This is not going to go away, they need to be at the police station. If family feel bad about dobbing the perpetrator in, they need to look at the three year sentence Sean Mercer's mother got for perverting the course of justice, by hindering the investigation into the Liverpool murder of Rhys Jones.
I hope they catch the moron (s) that did this, and those who were involved / associated should be punished too for not doing anything to stop this from happening, bullying the kid just because he was learning impaired is both cowardly & despicable, but the fact they took it to this level goes far beyond any kind of prank, it's arson & murder and the perpetrator should be brought to justice for their crime.
"....and warned the culprits that they will be caught.".............later on................"I am appealing to those people involved in this to do the decent thing and come forward to the police."
Oh well, I do hope they catch the scum that did it.
Once again a mindless/selfish act has been responsible for the death of an innocent party. We see this in all walks of life from speeding motorists to an incident such as this. Being a Christian and having some humanity I would like to beleive this was a very silly prank which has gone dreadfully wrong. My heart goes out to the families involved, to Raum, God bless you Lad and may Mary R I P..
...................... For Mary ...........................
You never failed to do your best, your heart was true and tender, You simply lived for those you loved and those you loved remember. You gave us all you had to give, gifts both great and small, But most of all you gave us love, the greatest gift of all. Two tired eyes are sleeping, two willing hands are still, The one who worked so hard for us is resting at God’s will. We hold you close within our hearts and there you will remain, To walk with us along life’s way until we meet again. A thousand words won’t bring you back, We know because we’ve tried, Neither will a million tears, We know because we’ve cried. They say memories are to treasure, to some that may be clear We never wanted memories, We only want you here. Ours is just a simple prayer, God bless and keep you in His care. Whatever else we fail to do, We'll never fail to think of you.