'Fire-obsessed' boy, nine, likely started house blaze that killed him and his aunt after he was caught 'playing with lighter', probe finds
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A nine-year-old boy, described as a having a 'fascination with fire', is believed to have started a blaze which killed himself and his aunt. Riley Chambers and Siobhan Abbott, 24, died from their injuries in a house fire on Rawson Street, Selston, at around 1am on Sunday, January 4.
![[Flowers were left outside the family house as a tribute to Riley and Siobhan following the blaze]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/16/23/93212077-0-image-a-46_1734392132653.jpg)
An inquest held into their deaths heard that Riley, who had autism, was a 'poor sleeper' who would wake in the night. The court was told on Monday that the nine-year-old was put to sleep in 'the usual manner' by his mother at around 7.30pm on January 13.
Siobhan returned to the property and went into her room at around 9.32pm the same evening, while Riley's parents and sister went to sleep at around 10.30pm in a room located on the ground floor of the property. They were later awoken by the sound of the smoke alarm and managed to escape the blaze through the kitchen.
When fire crews arrived, Siobhan was found in her room. Riley was not in his bedroom on the upper floor of the house but in another room on the same floor. The house on Rawson Street where the blaze that killed Riley and siobhan started on January 13. CCTV footage of the front of the property showed four instances of a flickering light at 12.40am, 12.43am, 12.47am and 12.49am, the hearing was told.
The latter 'remained constant and became much brighter', the inquest heard, with the fire located in the hallway. The hearing was told that Riley appeared to have 'a slight fascination with fire' and a lighter had been taken from him on a previous occasion.
