Flowers laid for victims of hotel inferno

RELATIVES of the victims of a hotel fire have revisited the scene to lay flowers one year on from the blaze.

Flames ripped through the Penhallow hotel in Newquay, Cornwall, on August 18, 2007, leaving three Staffordshire people – including Potteries' pensioner Joan Harper – dead.

Yesterday relatives laid flowers at the scene as detectives investigating the blaze said they will not rest until they catch the arsonist responsible.

The fire claimed the lives of Mrs Harper, aged 80, from Pinewood Crescent, Meir; Peter Hughes, aged 43, and his mother Monica, aged 86, both from Cheslyn Hay, near Cannock.

Four people were arrested in connection with the blaze, which firefighters said was the worst in Britain for 30 years.

Senior investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Darren Lockley, pictured, said he believed that, one year on from the incident, the burden of what happened would be weighing heavily on the person responsible.

DCI Lockley said he does not believe the person intended to kill and stressed they must come forward and explain to the families what happened.

He said: "It will take a very brave person to come forward.

"I don't think anyone anticipated the fire spreading as quickly as it did."

Mr Hughes, a physics teacher at Weston Road High School in Stafford, jumped from the third floor of the 54-bedroom hotel after trying in vain to save his mother.

Before leaping, he shouted: "I can't move my mum", and "I can't breathe, I can't breathe."

Ms Harper was also trapped, while her twin sister, Marjorie Brys, was one of more than 90 people who escaped.

A murder investigation was announced by police who said the fire was started deliberately by a naked flame.

During the investigation detectives have analysed more than 3,500 documents, including 1,000 statements.

DCI Lockley said: "It is a year on but it is still very raw for the families.

"They're still looking for answers, so they cannot properly go through the grieving process.

"The case is ongoing and it will not be closed until we have caught the person responsible."

The four people who were arrested in connection with the fire include the hotel's former general manager Andy Woollam, aged 42, and his wife Sarah, aged 36, who were arrested and released on bail to return on September 2.

Two men, who have not been identified, were also arrested and released on police bail to return on the same date.