Detectives investigating the deaths of a married couple found after a devastating explosion and fire tore through their Derbyshire home believe the husband could have murdered his wife before the blaze.
The bodies of Shelley and Simon Saxton-Cooper were found in the severely damaged property in Riddings, near Alfreton, on Sunday. The fire service is continuing to investigate the cause.
Shelley, 45, was wounded before the fire and her death is being treated as murder, Derbyshire police said. Simon’s death is not currently being treated as murder and no one else is believed to be involved in the incident.
Ch Supt Sunita Gamblin said: “We believe that Shelley, who was 45 years old, was wounded before the explosion and fire and we are treating her death as murder.
“Police, crime scene investigators and fire investigation specialists are working through the scene of the fire to find out exactly how it started and what happened,” Gamblin added. “We don’t believe, at this time, that anyone else is involved.”
Officers are still unable to provide a cause of death for Shelley or her 50-year-old husband, as postmortem examinations have not been completed.
Police said they were called to the house in Valley View Road shortly after 7.30am on Sunday and were working with the fire service to investigate the cause.
Paul Archer, 48, an off-duty firefighter who lives in an adjoining street, described how he made his way into the burning house.
“I was woken up by a loud noise. It didn’t sound like a massive explosion – it sounded like something big had been dropped,” he said.
After being called outside by his wife, he put on old firefighting equipment stored in his garage. Archer said: “The flames started straight away. One of the neighbours had got a key and they opened the back door.”
A dog escaped from the house as the door was opened and Archer, who works as a firefighter at East Midlands airport, went inside. “I made my way in shouting: ‘Can you hear me?’ The downstairs was really clear,” he said. “I got to the bottom of the stairs, shouting again, and made my way up to the top of the stairs. By this time the house was pretty well ablaze – the front bedroom door was on fire but I was shouting: ‘Hello, can anyone hear me?’”
Archer saw flames in a rear bedroom and feared the roof might cave in. He left the house via the front door as he heard the sirens of the first fire engines arriving.
Floral tributes were left at the scene, which remains cordoned off, as the investigation continues.
Julie Vallance, who has lived on Valley View Road for 20 years, paid tribute to the Saxton-Coopers, describing them as a “happy couple”.
