Police investigating a house fire in Leicester that killed a mother and her three children have said there is no evidence they were involved in a nearby street killing, but a link between the two events cannot be ruled out. The fire broke out just hours after a man was fatally stabbed in Kent Street, half a mile away.
The victims have been named locally as Shehnila Taufiq, 40s, and her children Zainab, 19, Jamal, 17, and Bilal, 15. They died in their bedrooms at their terraced home in Wood Hill, Spinney Hills, in the early hours of Friday. Neighbours suggested the family may have been killed in a case of mistaken identity.
Assistant Chief Constable Roger Bannister said officers were investigating whether the fire was a revenge attack for the earlier murder. 'I can't confirm here and now it is a revenge attack – it may be, it may not be – but lines of inquiry will certainly get to the bottom of that,' he said.
Three people – a man and two women, all aged 19 – have been arrested over the killing of the man in his 20s, named in reports as father-of-one Antoin Akpom. The man was arrested in London.
The victims' husband and father, Dr Muhammad Taufiq Al Sattar, a consultant neurosurgeon working in Ireland, was believed to be travelling home. The family, originally from Pakistan, had lived in Ireland for at least 15 years before the mother and children moved to the UK for Islamic education about five years ago.
Forensic examinations of the fire scene are ongoing. Police have urged witnesses to come forward as they investigate both 'terrible, terrible crimes'.
