Family still living with the pain that inferno inflicted on them
BEFORE little Summer Allen goes to sleep at night, she points at the pictures on the wall and reminds her parents which ones are hers and which ones are her sister’s up in Heaven.
She knows she is tucked up in Skye’s bed and knows exactly what her big sister looked like, even though they have never met.
And that’s because her mother and father, Jonty Lewis and Steve Allen, keep the memories alive of the two children they lost.
As the weekend marked six years since a horrific fire claimed the lives of five members of the same family, the couple said they will always carry with them the pain of losing twoyear-old Skye and their four-year-old son Bailey.
The youngsters had been having a sleepover with their auntie Lee-Anna Shiers, 20, her partner Liam Timbrell, 23, and their 15-month-old son Charlie, when flames ripped through a flat in Maes y Groes in Prestatyn on October 19, 2012 – killing them all.
Ground floor tenant Melanie Smith was jailed for a minimum of 30 years in 2013 for their murders after torching a pram in a communal hallway during a drink-fuelled rampage.
Speaking to our sister paper the Daily Post, Jonty and Steve said they’ve tried to come to terms with their unimaginable loss and rebuild their lives with children Kai, 12, Hunter, six, and new additions since the tragedy Tristan Bailey, four, Summer Skye, three, and nine-month-old Junior.
Their coping strategy is to surround themselves with memories of happier times, with practically every inch of wall space at their Prestatyn home filled with photographs, little paintings and craft projects.
Steve said: “Jonty always goes through so many memory cards on her phone taking hundreds of pictures of the kids, and I am so glad she did because we have so many memories to look back on of Skye and Bailey.
“Our walls are absolutely covered top to bottom in pictures, I have tattoo portraits of Bailey and Skye, so even though the younger children never met them, they know what they look like.
“It was hard when Summer first went into Skye’s bed, but now it’s lovely because she knows all about her big sister.
“She tells us which pictures on the walls are hers and which ones are Skye’s, so looking at Skye’s things is no longer as painful.
“She looks the image of her too, except Summer has blonde hair.
“We talk about Bailey and Skye all the time and we miss them so much every day.
“We know their spirit is here, because everywhere we look, they are here.”
Lee-Anna, Bailey and Skye died on the fateful night of the inferno. Charlie was resuscitated at the scene and battled on for a short while in Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool, but he passed away after two days.
His father Liam was remembered as a “hero forever” when he became the fifth person to lose his life three weeks later. He was too poorly to ever be told the agonising news about his loved ones, but his last words to emergency services were the name of the woman who did it.
Steve added: “We can’t believe six years have gone by already. I still remember it like it was yesterday.
“The pain never ever goes away but somehow, you just learn to live with it.
“Your life changes overnight and, after that, you have to carry around the pain that no one can ever imagine, but you do it for the sake of your family.”
On birthdays and special occasions, the family used to leave cards and balloons outside the fire-ravaged property, which is still boarded up and serves as a daily reminder of the devastation that took place there.
It was owned by retained firefighter Jay Liptrot, who was first on the scene with his firefighter colleagues and helped carry some of the children out.
In 2015, he was jailed for 15 months for failing to take proper safety precautions to prevent the deaths, such as installing a £250 fire door that would have afforded the family 30 minutes more protection against the flames.
“Ideally, we’d like it knocking down but it can’t be because it’s supporting another building,” Steve said.
“Even if it was renovated, it would be better than looking at the burntout shell. It must be awful for the neighbours, many of them tried to help that night and were traumatised. To see it like that all the time must be a daily reminder of what happened.”
Steve said that, since the tragedy, his wider family have forged a tighter bond and now spend more time together and go on holidays.
“We all deal with things differently,” he said.
“Some are stuck in a time warp and can’t move past that night, some cherish the children a lot more than before, but one thing that’s come out of this is that we all spend a lot more time together and our bond is stronger.
“Jonty is an amazing woman. Her whole life revolves around the kids. She puts on a brave face and puts the children first in every single thing that she does. I couldn’t have got through it without her. She is a fantastic mum.
“We used to release balloons on the anniversary and make a big deal of it, but as time has gone by, we have dealt with it more privately and think it’s more important just to be together.
“After going through the worst thing anyone ever can, I want to give hope to people who do lose children, no matter what the circumstances, that there is a way through it. The pain never goes, but you do get stronger and learn to cope with it.
“I also think it’s important to reiterate the fire safety message and urge people to make sure their homes are protected as much as possible against fires.”