Capel St Mary: Woman thankful for help after parents die in blaze

Peter and Pauline Leatherdale died in a house fire in Capel St Mary

A woman whose parents died in a house fire has said she owes everything to the community who helped her family following the blaze.

Peter and Pauline Leatherdale, both 75, died in the fire at Chapel Close, Capel St Mary, Suffolk on 2 October.

Becky Howle, who escaped the blaze with her two sons, told how she tried in vain to rescue her parents.

"People kept pulling me away... I wanted to try and get in the house again. I couldn't," she said.

The couple had moved in with Ms Howle the week before the fire due to failing health.

Ms Howle, 47, was still in her pyjamas and her sons, aged 11 and 15 at the time, were dressing for school when the fire started.

Within eight minutes the entire house was engulfed in flames, she told BBC Radio Suffolk.

Fire devastated the semi-detached house in Chapel Close

As the blaze ripped through the home she repeatedly tried to rescue her parents but could not reach them and was forced to watch the house burn from the road.

She said: "I was just thinking about mum and dad and getting them out and finding I couldn't reach them, couldn't help them anymore, and the realisation that I had to go."

"People kept pulling me away and I didn't want to be pulled away, I wanted to try and get in the house again. I couldn't," she added.

Ms Howle said firefighters told her it was "one of the quickest house fires" they had ever seen.

The blaze was caused when a candle caught on bed linen in her parents' room, she said.

The couple, who had two daughters, had been together since school and were "devoted" to one another.

"Somebody said at least they were with each other... that's where they would have wanted to be, together," she added.

Peter and Pauline Leatherhead met at school and were "devoted" to each other, their daughter said

Ms Howle has praised her local community for "coming together" to help her family who had been "left with nothing".

She said she "still feels bad" for neighbours who witnessed the fire and tried to help.

She said she felt compelled to share her story after hearing about a new law giving parents two weeks leave if their child dies.

Due to the traumatic nature of the fire she has not yet been able to return to work as a school nurse.