A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a baby and toddler died in a flat fire in Nottingham.

The emergency services were called to reports of a fire in the Clifton area of the city at 3.17am today.

A woman, thought to be in her 30s, and two children were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and taken to hospital. Sky News understands she is the children’s mother.

The children, girls aged three and one, were pronounced dead a short while later.

Detectives have now arrested a 31-year-old man from Clifton on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

He remains in custody for questioning.

The woman remains in a critical condition.

Detective Chief Inspector Greg McGill, who is leading the investigation, said: “This is a deeply tragic incident and we have a large team working tirelessly to understand the full circumstances.

“Whilst we have now made an arrest, the investigation remains at an early stage and we are continuing to appeal to anyone who has even the slightest bit of information, or even CCTV or dash-cam footage, to please come forward.”

Reassurance patrols

Inspector Ben Lawrence, who has led reassurance patrols in the local community after the fire, added: “These are clearly very sad circumstances and our thoughts continue to be with the family of those involved.

“This has also been an extremely traumatic event for the local community, especially for neighbours who have been left shocked and deeply saddened by the deaths of two very young children.

“We’ve increased reassurance patrols in the area and if anyone has any concerns we’d encourage them to speak to one of our officers.”

Anyone with information that could assist the investigation is asked to submit it to the Public Portal (mipp.police.uk). If you would prefer to speak to police, please call 101 and ask for Nottinghamshire Police quoting incident 0110_20112022.

Alternatively, contact the independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or through their anonymous online form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

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