An inquest has shared text messages sent by a 10 year old girl to her nan just hours before she and her dad died in a house fire.
Paige Bolton and her father Garry both died in the blaze on January 25 last year, Hull Live reports.
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service station manager Richard Gibson believed the cause was deliberate.
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He said: “I believe the ignition was due to an unspecified naked flame.
“As the seat of the fire was in the centre of the bed, it leads me to believe it was deliberate.”
The harrowing messages sent by Paige would support this claim.
The texts read: “Daddy is scaring me. Why can’t you help me?”
Unfortunately Ms Bolton didn’t see these messages until the next morning when it was too late.
Assistant coroner Ian Sprakes also mentioned text messages Garry sent to former partner Cherie Rangeley, which he decided not to read out but said “amounted to a suicide note”
Garry Bolton had suffered from mental health issues for the majority of his life. He suffered from anxiety, low self-esteem and paranoia. The inquest heard his mental health had deteriorated in the time leading up to his death.
In a statement Garry’s sister Tracey said: "Garry was low on confidence and took the bullying to heart. He was a sensitive and shy man. He would not stand up for himself even as a grown man.”
Garry also lost his son, Ethan, who was just six months old when he died of a heart defect.
Fire crews had to break into the property using a saw and discovered the two victims lying together in the bathtub.
Firefighter, Richard Fowler, said: ““We went upstairs but there was zero visibility and extreme heat.
“A second team shouted that they had found a casualty. I grabbed the legs of a young girl and there were no signs of life.
“She was carried downstairs and we headed back up. We found a male in the bathtub and we needed help getting him downstairs.
“The fire itself was in the main bedroom. We were getting low on air and exited the property.”
Garry was pronounced dead at the scene but Paige was rushed to hospital where they performed 45 minutes of resuscitation in a desperate attempt to save her life.
The post mortem revealed the pair died of “inhalation of products of combustion“.
In a further statement Tracey said: “The happiest I saw Garry was when he was holding his twins and smiling.
“Garry was a loving and devoted father to Paige who he absolutely adored and he always put her first.
“He was thoughtful and caring. He was a gentle giant with a passive nature. He cared for his family but never really got over the death of Ethan.”
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