Luton Man Named After Fatal House Fire

16 January 2019, 17:20 | Updated: 16 January 2019, 17:21

A man from Luton has been named as one of the three victims of a suspicious fire in Lincolnshire, on New Year's Day.

32 year-old Ashley Martin died along with Billy Hicks, 24 from Wyberton and Jay Edmunds 27 from Kirton in the fire at a detatched house in the village of Kirton near Boston.

Police have now confirmed Mr Martin would have been treated as a suspect in the deaths of the other two, if he survived.

READ MORE:-

Emergency services were called to a detached house on Peartree Road in the Lincolnshire Village of Kirton, just before 3am on New Year's Day.

Given the ferocity of the fire, formal identification and post-mortems took several days to be completed.

Officers from the East Midlands Specialist Operations Unit are carrying out a thorough investigation and will pass their findings to the coroner.

The family of Jay Edmunds (pictured, right) have released a tribute to her.

"Jay was a vibrant, funny, beautiful, loving Daughter & Sister.

We are shocked & horrified by the events that have taken Jay from us.  Our hearts are broken.

Thank you to all our family, friends and local community for their well wishes and support at this devastating time.

We would also like to thank to all emergency services that have been involved."

A tribute has also been released by the family of Billy Hicks.

"Billy (pictured, left) had a wonderful smile and would always be the life and soul of the party.

He was a very caring and loving person with a fantastic sense of humour.

Our hearts are broken our family is devastated for him to be taken away from us in such a tragic way.

We would like to thank all those involved.”
 

Detective Chief Inspector Karl Whiffen said:

“Given the damage caused to the house by the fire, this has been a complex incident to deal with.

We can confirm that Ashley Martin would be treated as a suspect in the deaths of Jay Edmunds and Billy Hicks.

We are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.

A file will be passed to the coroner.

However, it is important to note that a coroner’s role is not to apportion guilt or to attribute blame.

They will determine essential facts about how each person died.

Since this tragic event Family Liaison Officers have worked with relatives of all three people who died. During this time, families have read some inaccurate reports in media which they have found deeply upsetting.

We will be making no further comment until the conclusion of all three inquests.”