A mum screamed ‘my babies, my babies’ in agony as she watched a fire at her home kill four of her children, a neighbour has said. The children who died in the blaze on Sycamore Lane in the Highfields area of Stafford this morning, have been named locally as brothers Riley Holt, eight, Keegan, six, and Olly Unitt, three, and their sister, Tilly Rose, four. Mum Natalie Unitt and her partner Chris escaped from a first-floor window with a fifth child, named as two-year-old Jack.
One neighbour told the Mirror: ‘I was in the bathroom and heard a woman outside shouting, “My babies, my babies”. Then I heard a huge bang.’
Fire crews and emergency services formed a small line in respect as the two cars carrying the children left the scene. Police have confirmed that four children – who are yet to be formally identified – were killed in the blaze. They remain in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Throughout the day, tributes have been left by members of the public at the scene