An 18-year-old man is being held on suspicion of murder after a house fire left four siblings dead in northern England.
The teenager, from Lytham, Lancashire, was arrested following the fire last Saturday evening. He is not a family member.
Police confirmed today the fire was started inside a wardrobe in one of the bedrooms at the house on Lytham Road, Freckleton.
Reece Smith (19), four-year-old twin girls Holly and Ella Smith and Jordan Smith (two), were killed in the blaze.
Det Chief Insp Neil Esseen, from Lancashire Police said the fire is being treated as suspicious. “We are following a number of lines of inquiry and have spoken with a number of people who were at the house on the night in question,” he said.
“However, I would still urge anybody who has any information which they believe could assist us with our investigation to come forward.”
Smoke detectors were installed in the house but none were activated at the time, the fire service said yesterday.
It is understood a lethal amount of smoke spread quickly from a small fire in the loft extension, with the seat of the blaze thought to be located in a wardrobe in the bedroom of the three younger children.
Their mother Michelle Smith (36), who has five other children, was led out of the house by firefighters.
The blaze took hold hours after the family held a party at the house to celebrate her birthday.
PA