A man and a woman have been charged as part of a murder investigation into a house fire that killed four members of the same family in Ireland.
Kim English, her husband Philip, and their sons Callum, 12, and Jayden, nine, died in a petrol bomb attack at their home early on Tuesday morning in the Birchwood estate, just under two miles from Waterford city centre.
Philip and Kim’s two other children, Nadia, 14, and Elliot, six, remain in critical condition in hospital.
A man in his 20s and a woman in her 30s were arrested on Thursday with Gardaí saying in an update this afternoon they have now been charged.
It was previously reported that police suspect the attack was carried out by a man who had been contracted by a Traveller gang.
‘This man is very well-known to gardaí in the area,’ one senior source explained.
‘He’s a hired hand for several gangs in the area and has a history of carrying out attacks on people who owe drug debts in the city.
‘What you have to remember is that there’s a lot of different drug dealers operating across the city. It’s not like you belong to one gang. It’s all very fluid.
Philip and Kim English with their children, including Callum, left, and Jayden, centre
Floral tributes outside the scene of suspected arson attack at a house in Birchwood, Waterford
Kim and Philip (pictured) and two of their sons died in the early hours of Tuesday morning in the Birchwood estate, 3km from Waterford city centre
‘What gardaí believe is that one gang, which is headed by three brothers, hired this man to carry out the petrol-bomb attack. Gardaí have also secured CCTV of the vehicle they believe was used in the attack. An alert was sent around Garda stations to be on the watch for it.
‘I believe he was in a highly distressed state when he was arrested.’
His alleged accomplice, a woman in her 30s, was detained by detectives on suspicion of acting as the driver in the attack.
The pair will appear before a special sitting of Clonmel District Court at around 4.30pm today.
The Gardaí said their investigation into the house fire remains ongoing.
The arrest of the male and female suspects followed several raids on properties linked to gangland criminals in the area.
Gardaí seized phones, laptops and vehicles on Wednesday. They will be forensically searched for any evidence relating to the crime.
It was previously reported that the petrol bomb had been thrown into the Englishes’ home but detectives now believe the family’s electric car was struck, causing it to explode into the home and causing a devastating fire.
Forensic officers at the scene of an overnight fire in the Birchwood estate in Waterford City
Police at the scene of an overnight fire in the Birchwood estate in Waterford City, Ireland
A burnt-out window in the family home in the Birch Avenue
Philip’s son from a previous marriage, John James English, revealed that gangland figures in the city had terrorised his family for years over a £17,000 drug debt owed by someone known to the family.
Only three weeks before the fatal attack, the family car had been targeted with a petrol bomb. Nobody was injured in that incident.
John James also revealed that the home of his mother Anne, Philip’s ex-wife, was previously targeted in another petrol-bomb attack.
On Wednesday afternoon, James English, an uncle of Philip, said: ‘Well, whoever knows, you’d want to turn up, and own up to whoever’s done it.
‘At the end of the day, we have a lot of the family now wiped out.
‘Please, whoever’s done it, own up. Be a man and own up for what you have done.’
