Tests awaited over fatal house fire

Gardaí are today awaiting the results of forensics tests following the death of a pensioner in a house fire in Newbridge, Co …

Gardaí are today awaiting the results of forensics tests following the death of a pensioner in a house fire in Newbridge, Co Kildare, early yesterday morning.

Gardaí preserved the scene for technical examination yesterday and said they were treating the fire as suspicious.

The 81-year-old man, named locally as Michael Crowe, was at home with his wife and son in the Páirc Mhuire Estate when the fire broke out at about 6am.

It is understood that a brick or other heavy object was thrown through the front window of the house at about 2am, some hours before the fire broke out.

READ MORE

Neighbours alerted emergency services to the blaze at 6.07am. All three occupants of the house were taken to Naas General Hospital, where Mr Crowe died a short time later.

His wife Betty, in her early 70s, and son Thomas, in his late 40s, remained in hospital yesterday and were described last night as in a stable condition.