Harlow fire deaths: Local private CCTV may hold key clues

The lounge of the Shakoor family home after the fire

CCTV in an area of Essex where six members of the same family were killed by a house fire could reveal key clues.

Sabah Usmani, sons Muneeb, nine, and Rayyan, six, and daughter Hira, 12, died at their home in Harlow.

Sohaib, 11, and daughter Maheen, three, died later in hospital. Dr Usmani's husband, Abdul Shakoor, was the only survivor of the blaze on 15 October.

Police are asking people with private CCTV cameras in the Barn Mead and Whitewaits areas to contact them.

A car parked nearby caught fire at about the same time.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "Any pictures could provide detectives with vital information concerning the suspicious house and car fire."

Sabah Usmani and her children died in the fire

The force has also said it believed a burglary took place on the night of the fire after the family went to bed.

Police are searching for Dr Shakoor's black Toshiba Satellite laptop, which was in the lounge when he went to bed that evening.

Officers want to talk to a group of teenage boys wearing tracksuits and baseball caps.

Two teenagers on pedal bikes were seen in Barn Mead during the early hours of 15 October.