UK - Stafford - Riley Holt 8, Keegan Unitt 6, Tilly Rose Unitt 4, Olly Unitt 3.

[Cinister09]

I have been unable to find a thread for these 4 despite searching and as I am following it, waiting for some form of update, I thought I would post it up as no one really knows what happened other than there was a fire.

Here are the basics so far;

• February 5th 2019 - a house fire breaks out at the family home on Sycamore Avenue in Stafford.

• Mother, Natalie Unitt 24, and her partner, Chris Moulton 28, unsure if he is a father to any of the children as articles have conflicting information, managed to escape the fire by jumping out of their bedroom window with the 2 year old child who survived.

• 4 Children died in the house; Riley, Keegan, Tilly Rose and Olly.

• Both were arrested on the 8th of February on charges of suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence and bailed later pending further investigation.

• Faulty boiler and cannabis factory have been ruled out.

• Inquest was set for the 11th of July 2019 - as this date has passed and I have found no update I am wondering if it took place or not.

Here are a few links relating to the fire and subsequent passing;

09/02/2019
Parents whose four kids died in house fire are bailed and ‘move out of area’

15/02/2019
Mystery still surrounds cause of Stafford blaze that killed four children
15/02/2019
Inquest update into cause of Stafford fire which killed four children

05/03/2019
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/natalie-unitt-stafford-house-fire-2610048

12/03/2019
Funeral held for four children who died in Staffordshire house fire

22/03/2019
Mystery remains over cause of the Stafford house fire

24/06/2019
Stafford house where four children died in fire reduced to rubble four months on

As of right now, I cannot find any information regarding the supposed inquest into their deaths, cause of the fire or the parents status in regards to a trial etc.

I have seen both adults social media accounts as they are suspects, both have since locked their profiles down from being public to friends only from what I can see;

- Natalie Unitt - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011023663956

- Chris Moulton - https://www.facebook.com/chris.t.moulton

At this stage I am unsure on whether they are guilty or not. Witnesses from the scene state the mother was screaming for her children.

Hopefully there will be an update soon.

[Hopefully this is okay, it's my first thread so I'm hoping I got everything in correct.]

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Brilliant first thread! I thought we had a thread for these poor kids, but I must have just read about it in the newspapers.

Is there any suggestion the 2 year old is Moulton's kid and the others his step-children?

 

[Cinister09]

I did search both Unitt and Moulton plus the kids names on websleuths but didn't find anything.

His Facebook states all of the kids names and the words "my babies" in his public description however I do believe only the youngest is his.

Stafford house where four children died in fire reduced to rubble four months on

"Their mother Natalie Unitt and her partner Chris Moulton escaped with their two-year-old son."

However I haven't seen anything from any other male(s) that could be father(s) to the other children, which I find odd to be honest as this was in the papers for months.

 

[Cinister09]

A search of the 4 childrens names along with "father" pulls up loads of articles labeling Chris as their father and this one has a line that indicates he was all bar the eldest's father;
Mum and dad arrested after children died in Stafford fire released | Metro News
"Riley is understood to have been from an earlier relationship Ms Unitt was in."

Looking at the photo of the children in that article I would say they could well be his as they do look like him bless them.

 

[Alyce]

The inquest into the deaths of had been set for Thursday, July 11, but has now been provisionally scheduled to take place on October 17.

Police issue update on house fire that killed four children

 

[Alyce]

School memorial created for children who died in Stafford house fire

 

[Cinister09]

The inquest into the deaths of had been set for Thursday, July 11, but has now been provisionally scheduled to take place on October 17.

Police issue update on house fire that killed four children

Thank you for this, I hadn't managed to find anything further to what I posted above.
I wonder why they have changed the date...

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Added to UK Index

 

[Ironside]

I've been googling Stafford fire every week since this happened to see if the cause has been released yet. I can't imagine what on earth caused it. At first I thought it was a cannabis farm in the attic that went wrong but police have ruled that out. Really curious what happened to these poor children.

 

[Alyce]

Thank you for this, I hadn't managed to find anything further to what I posted above.
I wonder why they have changed the date...

Only thing I could see said police investigation is still ongoing....which could mean they are waiting for results or just overloaded with work.

Welcome to WS...great first post

 

[RachelZachary]

Investigation into fatal Staffordshire house fire expected to close

From 4th September:

‘The investigation into the cause of a fatal house fire which led to the tragic deaths of four children, in Stafford, is expected to end soon.’

Staffordshire Police say the investigation is continuing but is expected to conclude in Autumn

 

[wendybtn]

In the UK, the media is not allowed to release stories regarding details of the case prior to trial as we do in the USA.

 

[Tortoise]

FOUR children were killed in a devastating fire when their parents fell asleep after smoking in bed - despite being warned by social services.

Riley Holt, eight, and siblings Keegan, Tilly and Olly Unitt, aged six, four and three, died when a blaze broke out at their family home in Stafford, Staffs, in February last year.

[...]

The Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against the couple, the inquest heard.

DI Lyford added: “In December of last year, we submitted an advice file to them.

“This was considered by CPS and they considered several offences and ultimately deemed there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Natalie or Christopher in relation to this matter.”

4 kids killed in house fire after parents 'fell asleep while smoking in bed'

 

[borndem]

Oh what an absolute tragedy. What in the world came over those parents on that night? All kinds of ideas in my own mind for that answer. And apparently SS was already involved in some way with this family.
Four young and promising little human beings, just gone. And their parents -- how could they even go from day to day after this preventable horror? Certainly, even without prosecution and possible punishment, they are undergoing there own private punishment.

 

[Ironside]

Finally we have an answer. What completely avoidable deaths. I wonder did they even have a smoke alarm? Do they still have custody of their remaining child?

 

[Kitkat28]

Oh what an absolute tragedy. What in the world came over those parents on that night? All kinds of ideas in my own mind for that answer. And apparently SS was already involved in some way with this family.
Four young and promising little human beings, just gone. And their parents -- how could they even go from day to day after this preventable horror? Certainly, even without prosecution and possible punishment, they are undergoing there own private punishment.

Nothing came over them “that night”. They’d been told repeatedly by (presumably) the health visitor and the social worker to stop smoking in the house, and they chose to put their selfish desires to smoke ahead of their childrens’ rights to breathe clean air and not die in a fire.

Personally I think they should be charged with neglect or even manslaughter. As a one off mistake it would be tragic, but there was evidence of “multiple carelessly discarded cigarettes”. It’s about time this country started calling negligent parents to account.

 

[Ironside]

Sounds like the poor children were borderline feral. Poor little mites.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/four-children-killed-stafford-house-19456949.amp

 

[Kitkat28]

Why do people keep having children they don’t particularly want? It’s really not that complicated to just not have them.

Not to mention, 50 separate injuries counts as “neglect”? Sounds more like “child abuse” to me. No doubt there will be yet another report into why social services failed to do their jobs again, and nothing will change again.

 

[Ironside]

Why do people keep having children they don’t particularly want? It’s really not that complicated to just not have them.

Not to mention, 50 separate injuries counts as “neglect”? Sounds more like “child abuse” to me. No doubt there will be yet another report into why social services failed to do their jobs again, and nothing will change again.

The thing is they may have wanted the children badly even if they were not capable of caring for them properly.

A report may suggest a new way of dealing with deadbeat parents like this going forward. It seems social services had their hands tied as the parents didn’t have any addiction issues.