Boy of seven killed after family home is torched in arson attack
POSING as a fireman for a family portrait, Joel Urhie had his whole life ahead of him.
Yet he now lies dead at the age of seven – after a killer torched his London home as he slept.
Joel’s mother and sister jumped 15ft to safety but he could not escape. Police are probing whether the home was targeted.
Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan, who is leading the murder hunt, said: ‘We believe the fire was started deliberately but at this stage I am unable to go into any further detail due to operational reasons.
‘We have no idea what the motive for this attack was. We’ve got no suspects.’
Joel’s father, who moved out of the family home around five years ago, spoke of his pain on losing his ‘sweet and intelligent’ son.
Outside the gutted house in Deptford, south London, John Urhie, 54, said: ‘He was a very lovely boy who was just loving life. It’s a terrible loss.’
He said that Joel’s 49-yearold mother Iroroefe Urhie – a nurse who is known as Sophie – was recovering in hospital along with their daughter Sarah, 19.
One neighbour, Mcklushia Myles, said Mrs Urhie’s other son Sam, 21, had got into trouble ‘once or twice’ over
‘Help my son, he’s inside’
knife crime. He was not staying at the house.
Another family friend yesterday said Mrs Urhie was a devoted mother to Joel, who was autistic and a special needs pupil at the local primary school.
Her daughter was home from university for the summer holidays.
Neighbours told how they raced out to find ‘all hell was breaking loose’ as a ‘curtain’ of fire tore through the house at 3.25am yesterday. They said Mrs Urhie and her daughter had smashed their way through a first-floor window.
Family friend Grace Gbenedio said: ‘The mum collapsed on my lap. She was in a bad state. Her head was bleeding. She was crying for her son, saying “help my son, he’s inside”.’
Fernando Rios, a 21-year-old student, tried to get into the rear of the house.
He said: ‘I thought I could hear banging upstairs, like someone kicking a door. But the flames were too big, they were engulfing the house.’
Six fire engines and 35 firemen attended the scene and took around an hour and a half to contain the blaze.
Several neighbouring properties had to be evacuated.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said the ground floor of the home was badly damaged by the blaze, as well as the whole of the first floor.
They said: ‘Two women jumped from first-floor level shortly before the first firefighters arrived.
‘They were both treated at the scene.’