An 11-year-old boy has died nearly five months after a devastating house fire in Clayton Green, Lancashire. Cole Leighton and his mother Kim were critically injured in the blaze, which broke out shortly before midnight on 6 January. Cole passed away on 29 May at Manchester Children's Hospital.
Lancashire Police confirmed in February that there was no criminal element to the fire and that no further investigation would take place. Cole was the under-12s captain at Charnock Richard FC, where the club paid tribute to him as a 'true leader on and off the pitch'.
A GoFundMe page set up to support the family has raised over £32,000. Tributes from the community described Cole as a 'brave little warrior' who 'fought to the very end'.
—
